July Moodboard
The Venetian slippers and swimsuit on my summer kit list plus a few hotels/rentals I’ve bookmarked—along with the latest openings and happenings, from Amorgos to Tanzania.
After three months on the road living out of a suitcase—and completely reliant on my packing cubes—I’m ready to upgrade to these colorful ones from Tuckernuck.
My favorite Le Monde Beryl Venetians make a comeback, but in a summery suede version, to celebrate their 10th anniversary!
This may be the year I actually make it to Basilicata, and when I do I’ll be checking into the Santavenere and the Palazzo Margherita.
Love this modernist house in Puglia.
Designed in Venice, Lido makes swimsuits that are perfectly simple in very chic colorways—they’re high on my summer kit list.
I’ve been so Greece-centric all these years, I’ve only made it to Maçakizi (on the Bodrum Peninsula) once, and just for drinks. But this book, written by our friend Melinda Stevens for Assouline documenting its evolution from 1970s boho guesthouse to the most renowned hotel on the Turkish Coast, makes me want to go back and stay awhile.
Daughters as influencers: Clara just tried the Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask—you apply a thin layer, let it absorb, and voila: glassy skin. Alex’s daughter Nell turned her onto their jet lag eye patches and now she’s a convert.
Perfect summer meals with no cooking needed—tinned fish with the best packaging that transports me to Portugal.
Speaking of Portugal, this beautiful book on Portuguese interiors.
This new-ish place to stay in Biarritz.
Arrivals & Departures
Neos Eros (“New Love”), from the family behind our favorite Eros Keros, is a restored 5-BR beachfront villa in Amorgos. With a pool and secluded pebble beach, it looks as sweet as its sibling. Be sure to hike up to the monastery and say hi to Yolo Journal contributor Constantine, who lives there!
Ten minutes outside Arles, Casa Ideale—also known as Villa Bank—is available to rent through October exclusively via our friends at Boutique. One of two organic 1970s villas designed by architect Émile Sala and recognized as “Architecture Contemporaine Remarquable” by the French Ministry of Culture, it’s a true landmark of French modernism. Also on premises: a photo exhibit featuring Helmut Newton, Urs Lüthi and others.
Grecotel Filoxenia Kalamata reopened this summer on land with a genuine before-life: once the open-air “Cinema of Valasis,” in the 1970s the site became the Xenia hotel, then expanded in 1975–82 by noted Greek architects into scattered tile-roofed buildings facing the sea. Grecotel (the family-owned group that launched 50 years ago) later renamed it for the Greek philosophy of hospitality, and the fresh renovation brings 162 rooms and suites with terraces facing the sea, gardens, or Mount Taygetus. Ancient Messene, Byzantine Mystras, and the Mani are all nearby—a genuine Peloponnese experience, not resort-bubble Greece.
Also family-owned and opening in Greece: Luura Cliff debuts next month on the west side of Paros, near the ferry at Pounda. With 39 suites designed by Elastic Architects and Lambs and Lions interiors, the hotel is an intimate setting for the owner’s huge private art collection—with a kitchen helmed by Michelin chef Mimi Kakushi and a Greek-leaning spa.
Lousy beach weather in the Hamptons? Fine. Starting on July 19th, Eight Decades of Ellsworth Kelly is showing at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill (pair this with a wellness weekend at Shou Sugi Ban!). The Hamptons Fine Art Fair starts on the 9th, with over 140 global galleries exhibiting in Southampton, which coincides with East Hampton Art & Design Days. Artist Joe Henry Baker also has a show at the Montauk Yacht Club starting on July 10th.
The latest from the De Santis family, proprietors of Lake Como icons Passalacqua and Grand Hotel Tremezzo, is a bit of a departure: four new suites atop their lakeside Casabianca Art Gallery, with highlights from the family’s collection. Each one is shaped around a site-specific art installation, against a backdrop of Gio Ponti and modern Italian details. They’ve also collabed with Milanese cafe Cova for the perfect morning coffee.
The largest Wooden Boat Festival in North America happens in Port Townsend, WA, in early September. Ground it in a couple of days in Seattle!
For three weeks in July (5th-26th), The Ranch Malibu has introduced short-term stays of 3-4 nights, a more condensed version of their hard-core (yet beloved) week-long retreats—great for those who want a quick reset without the major time commitment.
Opening soon from hospitality group A Place in Mind: The Seminary in Old Bennington, Vermont. With a mission “to restore at-risk, architecturally significant buildings across the American landscape,” the group is working on 5 properties in New England, in partnership with their architecture/interiors brand, Hendricks Churchill, and landscaping by Grace Fuller Design.
Catch it before it’s gone: the Rothko Exhibit at Palazzo Strozzi is on in Florence until August 23rd!
Fans of Studio KO (YSL Museum Marrakech, Chiltern Firehouse) will want to know that the French design duo’s latest property, Hotel Bus Palladium, has now opened in Paris. Both a 5-star hotel and a very cool event venue, it blurs the lines between polished Parisian chic and the grunge vibes of the 9th arr.
The hills are alive: the Salzburg Music Festival takes place from July 17 to August 30 with star-power performances across opera and classical music. Take in a séjour at the Sacher Hotel Salzburg to complete the elegant picture.
Heads up for Berkshire-goers (doing Tanglewood or maybe visiting Hancock Shaker Village): Walker Street Market opens on July 11th—a gallery showcasing craftsmanship and design heritage with 70+ artists and designers exhibiting their work, from furniture to jewelry to textiles.
Argentine chef Francis Mallmann has cooked over open flames from Patagonia to Provence, but next June he heads somewhere new: Botswana’s Okavango Delta. In partnership with our friend ROAR Africa founder and safari specialist Deborah Calmeyer, he’ll host a five-night journey for 20 guests at Xigera Safari Lodge, called “Wild At Heart, Open Flame.” Days are devoted to game drives, mokoro excursions, and bush walks; evenings revolve around fire: with long-table dinners beneath the stars, an open-fire cooking workshop with Mallmann, and meals that celebrate one of humanity’s oldest rituals. More info here.
Safari is a major new frontier for Auberge Collection, and the brand has shrewdly joined forces with two of Tanzania’s most respected safari operators, Legendary Expeditions and Chem Chem Safari. Together they’ve advanced a collection of nine camps and lodges that combine Auberge’s place-driven hospitality with decades of local knowledge and deep conservation expertise: they’ve preserved over 600,000 acres of migration corridor, and maintain exclusive use of the Greater Mwiba Protected Wildlife and Burunge Wildlife Management Areas on the fringes of the Serengeti.
A reason to visit San Francisco this summer (besides the reliably cool temps): the Matisse show is on at SFMoma until September 23. Meanwhile, in Paris, the incredible Matisse retrospective at the Grand Palais in Paris bows on July 26.
Mandarin Oriental has landed in the Balearics, opening on the southwest coast of Mallorca, in Calvià. Flanked by Aleppo pine forests and the sea, MO Punta Negra has 131 rooms and a holistic wellness program.
If the summer of TS taught us anything, a concert is a great excuse to visit a foreign city (and cheaper, too). This month, Bad Bunny is on the move. Feeling spontaneous? There’s Stockholm (July 10 &11); Warsaw (July 14); Milan (July 17 & 18); and Brussels (July 22).
ICYMI
Last week in a nod to America’s 250th, we distilled all of our favorite U.S. stays that bring us “Back to the Land”—from glamping to farm stays, ranches to woodsy cabins, there are so many great places to touch grass.
Our Porto Black Book is filled with local recs from a deep bench of Porto-based creatives.
Read our Hats That Pack to find your favorite stylish summer topper. Sun protection, people!
Our Saint Tropez Black Book looks past the flash to find all the charming local spots that continue to draw generations of regulars. We put it to the test a couple of weeks ago and it really held up.
Francis Mallmann in Botswana! EPIC!
The Ranch Malibu offering 3-4 night stays is the kind of flexibility that actually makes wellness accessible. A reset shouldn't always require a full week off.