Adventurous souls who prefer to eschew the more obvious tourist traps will be happy here, flitting from seaside to hillside through wild, authentic countryside, visiting a sculpture park, tasting local wine. But you could just stay put in this smartly restored barn with garden and outlying land: stroll through olives, cypress, prickly pear and aloe, nip round the back to discover a fecund vegetable garden, steal fruit straight from the trees. Sunsets here are vivid so if you like them make sure you’re by the pool or on the veranda. Writer and journalist Marella has obviously enjoyed herself – she and her artist/sculptor husband Sandro have mixed upcycled finds with multi-coloured marble floors and mismatched fabrics; bedrooms have big windows through which light pours, bathrooms are large enough to frolic in. If you want to cook for yourselves then the kitchen has all the stuff you need, but friendly Viviana is longing to take care of you if you’ll let her. For big family gatherings or groups of friends this is an unfussy place. If you hunker low on a lounger you can exactly match the pool’s edge with the horizon of the sea…
