Scouting Season

We just got home from Cortona, and this is the “house” that hosted us.

Nello’s Villa Cortona

Honestly, most of what the guests keep writing us about is stuff the house did, not stuff we planned. And to be fair, the house was amazing - indoor/outdoor pool, all bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, private wine cellar, dining room in an old chapel, baby grand piano, lush landscape and views you never get tired of.

Mornings were on the porch. Coffee, the valley below, conversations that started at 7 and were somehow still going at 10. Nobody was in a rush.

Afternoons were at the outdoor pool. People read, swam a little, mostly just sat in the sun. You can't put that on an itinerary — a house either invites it or it doesn't. This one did.

Dinners were catered, long, candles. And then almost every night the group ended up in the indoor pool and hot tub. Late. Prosecco in hand. Some of the best conversations of the week happened there, with people who had only just met on Monday.

One night was the wine cellar — just us, a sommelier, a private tasting downstairs in the stone.

And the small thing that turned out to be a big thing: every room had its own bathroom. Nobody felt like they were sharing a house with strangers. Everyone had a door to close.

None of that was scheduled. The house did the work.

That's the lens we use, and it's why we already have the hosting locations for the next two editions locked in: Napa with Nina and the Coastal Reset with Sami.

More on both soon.

— Cynthia