Artnet

"With its turquoise waters, limestone cliffs, olive groves, and many an old masseria (farmhouse), Puglia—the provincial heel of the boot—is the polar opposite of Italy’s fast-paced fashion capital. And lately, it’s become something of a hotspot between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. The region has played muse to artists including the Italian photographer Massimo Vitali, who famously captured the leisurely beach scenes from Polignano a Mare to Torre Pali. More recently, the Milan-born sculptor Edoardo Tresoldi “resurrected” the bones of an ancient basilica that was once located in the Archaeological Park of Siponto (it was abandoned after earthquakes ca. 1255). His monumental (and permanent) installation, Basilica di Siponto, was constructed entirely from wire mesh—a contemporary counterpoint to the remaining Romanesque church."

"With its vaulted brick ceilings, the 18th-century dining room (formerly an olive press) within the whitewashed, 40-room Masseria San Domenico serves traditional Puglian dishes such as orecchiette with cime di rapa (broccoli rabe) made using the house’s own olive oil and vegetables grown on site."

"One of the most interesting hospitality projects in recent years came from Manuela and Iwan Wirth of Hauser and Wirth, who turned a 19th-century coaching inn at the heart of the Cairngorms National Park into the art-filled Fife Arms."

"Mount Stuart is a quirky art-and-design Mecca on the Isle of Bute. The Neo-Gothic mansion has 300 acres of gardens, the world’s first heated swimming pool (so it’s said), and a Marble Hall with a vaulted ceiling swathed in a crystal-studded star map and stained-glass windows depicting the zodiac signs."

"Whiskey aficionados will want to visit Brora, a ca.-1819 “ghost distillery” brought back to life. A victim of Scotland’s 1983 whiskey market crash, it sat closed for nearly four decades on the northeast coast of Sutherland, and its rare, smoky single malts have recently seen skyrocketing prices at auction—a 40-year-old bottle was sold for a record £54,450 ($74,415) at a Sotheby’s in 2019. Following a three-year restoration, the distillery reopened this year."

"There are a number of smaller, more remote operations that are worth the effort to reach—like Gaada, an artist-led, community-based visual art workshop and exhibition space in a tiny former Methodist chapel on Shetland’s Burra Isle."

"At The Beaumont—the ca.-1926, transatlantic-style hotel in Mayfair, with its new, Thierry Despont-designed Gatsby’s Room lounge—you can sleep inside Room (2014), an inhabitable sculpture created for the property by Antony Gormley."

"Known for its papier-mâché tradition and nicknamed the “Florence of the South,” the small town of Lecce has been making an especially large splash. Its Piazza del Duomo became the setting for Dior’s Cruise 2021 collection show, nodding to the heritage of the fashion house’s artistic director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, whose father was born in Puglia (she’s been visiting her whole life)."

"For an upscale take on tapas, book a seat at the Michelin-starred Tickets, one of Albert Adrià and his brother Ferran’s acclaimed molecular-gastronomy-inspired restaurants. Small bites such as Spanish octopus are reinvented with global ingredients such as kimchi on the extensive menu, which changes with the seasons."

"And south of the Thames, Tate Modern has commissioned a site-specific installation from the Korean-American conceptual artist Anicka Yi for its Turbine Hall, opening on October 12 and closing on January 16, 2022."