How This Seaside Tuscan Hotel Became a Cult Retreat for the Fashion World | Vogue

"Set on a clifftop overlooking the limpid Mediterranean, this storied Tuscan hotel that came to define Mediterranean glamour helped crystallize the dream of the quintessential Italian summer: fuchsia bougainvillaea climbing terracotta-red facades, fragrant rosemary lining meandering walkways, and, down a steep staircase carved into the rocks, towel-draped sun beds beneath yellow-striped umbrellas. For 60 years it has held an ineffable, magical quality as a historic bolthole near Porto Ercole, with allure fueled by languid candlelit dinners and late poolside night discos—like at its raucous 60th-anniversary celebration attended by Margaret Qualley, Jenna Lyons, and Haider Ackermann. Under creative director Marie-Louise Sciò—who took the mantle in 2006 after her father Roberto purchased the hotel in 1975—the place has become a modern icon of cultivated leisure shaped by her design-and-fashion vanguard circle (she studied architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design and worked in New York). As Harris Reed noted, “There are very few people in the world—let alone hoteliers—that have the ability to cultivate not just a family while away on holiday but truly a community of creatives,” a sentiment echoed by Elizabeth Saltzman, who called the endorphin injection here “unmatched.”" - Laura May Todd