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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Capri’s ultimate-glamour address
Capri is for dreamers, Capri is for lovers – and increasingly, it’s pretty much only for the ones with spending power to spare, at least in the high season. But for those who feel there’s nothing better than a week in July here for tapping into those bygone jet-set glamour feels – or the person who’s dreamed of a 40th-50th-60th birthday blowout – Villa Aiano is one to consider. Two, actually, comprised as it is of an Upper and Lower Villa, each with its own clutch of bedrooms, sitting rooms and kitchens.
Its 12 double bedrooms are niftily fitted into the various levels and storeys, each with either a balcony or garden with a view. Then there’s the position – high above Capri town and the Marina Grande, with views over the whole of the Bay of Naples, from Sorrento to Vesuvius. The decor is unassailable without being grand, manifesting all the signal colours and materials of the south, down to the delicious green-tiled pool. from €25,000 a week, enquiries at @villa_aiano
Back to (indulgent) basics in the Balearics
Vestige is the kind of hospitality idea we rate: a small, family-owned and thoughtfully amassed portfolio of boutique hotels, private estates and holiday villas that, as it grows, will tick style and service boxes in original and place-specific ways (owner Victor Madera’s budding enterprise was described as “paradores for the 21st century” in the FT last year). After restoring an 11-bedroom palace in Asturias, it opened Son Vell, a 34-bedroom gem on Menorca, last June. This month it’s added the first two of what will soon be a collection of private houses and estates for holiday takeovers in the Balearics.
Santa Ana, which is taking bookings now, sits in 210 private hectares of olive grove and woodland in Menorca’s south-west. In keeping both with Vestige’s house style and its aspirations to create architectural legacies with sensitive restorations, the six-bedroom manor house is the quintessence of the islands – metre-thick stone walls and cotto floors, a palette of earth and nature shades throughout, but with a gloss of contemporary style in the low-slung furnishings.
In July, a very different property will come online in the heart of Palma de Mallorca: Miramar is an eight-bedroom townhouse that actually adjoins La Seu, the city’s famous cathedral with its Gaudi-designed interiors. Its restoration was overseen by Victor Madera’s wife Maria and 20-something daughters Marta and Claudia, who all work in the company, and harnesses more colour, and urban polish, than its Menorcan counterpart.
It’s hard to think of a better buyout in Palma for the next big celebration. vestigecollection.com; Santa Ana from €2,880 a night for 12 people, three-night minimum; Miramar from €5,285 a night for 16 people, two-night minimum
Santorini’s ultra-private side
Canaves is another family-owned and -run company, with four decades of form on Santorini – a time during which the world watched this Cycladic island evolve from still reasonably authentic to hyper-subscribed. The Canaves hotels, though, seem to move nimbly to evolve, harnessing the best of it, from quieter locations to understated architecture and interiors; the re-opening of Canaves Ena in Oia this month – newly simplified and upcycled, its suites full of light and indoor-outdoor space – makes the case. Canaves Epitome, on a ridge north of town, proposes a different take on privacy: overlooking the tiny fishing village of Ammoudi, the new five-bedroom villa is effectively its own mini-estate (and one of Santorini’s only exclusive-use properties).
Complete with long infinity pool, fitness area and treatment room, the villa is all rigorous right angles, glass and untreated volcanic stone – a total departure from classic whitewashed-Cyclades charm. There’s loads of indoor-outdoor entertaining space, a large, fully equipped kitchen for those who enjoy cooking (and hotel-staff chefs on standby if you don’t). canaves.com, from £2,800 a night for 14 guests
The luxe lodge life in Costa Rica
Launched in 2010 with a select collection of houses and flats in London, Onefinestay has since expanded to include rural stays and over a dozen new destinations. Costa Rica, where the company has just made a handful of large, casual-chic houses available, is one of the newest. Calla Lily is a five-bedroom, six-bathroom contemporary lodge on a hill above Guiones Beach in Guanacaste; the boho-surf town of Nosara, with its crafty shops, yoga studios and smart-working cafés, is a few kilometres north of it.
Nothing is too fancy here, which fits right in with the Guiones vibe: the layout is open-plan, with living-dining areas simple and white, and sliding glass doors and windows giving access and views to wide poured-concrete terraces. There’s a tuk-tuk available, for getting down to the beaches below. onefinestay.com, from £1,201 for 10 people
