JOIN the AFICIONADOS
Get the insider news and lowdown on what we've been up to, where we've been, and who we've met along the way. Be the first to discover new places and get the scoop on our favourites.
Then things shifted. A long mid-week lunch that quietly refused to end helped. Lifting the head and smiling at the world did the trick. Instead of being flooded by rain and coffee, orders for the new magazine poured in, breaking all previous records. Love you, amigos. Thank you.
We also signed off on five new hotels and guesthouses joining the family. You will meet them over the coming weeks, as fast as I can write. We are already deep into the next magazine, which is shaping up to be an encyclopedia of sunshine. And one last tease: I had the most fascinating conversation this week with an entrepreneur from Japan. His concept is exceptional. Truly. I cannot wait to get pen to paper and explore what may well become our first adventure there. Watch this space.
Here I am now, late Friday afternoon, and it appears everything has gone to plan. Not a bad week after all. I may knock over another espresso on Monday and see what unfolds.
How was your week? Judging by the inbox, many of you are deep into planning mode. Zermatt is calling. Scotland awaits. Honeymoons are being plotted for Tuscany. Greece is being island-hopped with intent. One of you is even heading to Antarctica, which feels like winning the wanderlust lottery outright.
First up this Sunday, a new sibling joins us in South Tyrol, a marriage of sustainability, architecture and smooth, natural design. Joining our growing line-up of much-loved restoration kids, it began, as so many do, as an unloved building. Nips, tucks and a lot of love shape this week’s edit.
We also catch up with the perfect people for bathtime rituals, chat with a humble Spanish weaver quietly casting his magic, and feature a firepit that behaves more like a cultural sculpture than equipment, all perfect allies if you are flirting with a major restoration of your own.
So if you have ever fallen for a pile of bricks and mortar, this one is for you. And if you simply enjoy old meeting the new, consider this your bookmark for future wanderings. Time for my “finished-the-newsletter” Negroni. There’s little chance of knocking that one over.
Hugs
Iain & Crew
PS: You will require some imagination this week to see past the dust, bricks and wrecks - love 'em.
Perched above Lajen/Laion in South Tyrol at the entrance to the Grödnertal/Val Gardena, this historic farmstead slips quietly into meadow and forest, with long, unbroken views across the Eisack Valley towards the Dolomites.
If you want a sense of the real Mallorca, this is your place. Wrapped in twisted olive trees and citrus groves, it offers a thoughtful reworking of monastic calm, layered with contemporary design and understated modern luxury.
This hotel sanctum of aesthetic cool in Arco near Lake Garda sits harmoniously alongside an inhabited nuns’ cloister – testament to both of their calm demeanours despite offering a widely different scale of accommodation.
And even more calm and at ease are Monastero Arx Vivendi owners Steffi and Manuel, who talked to us at The Aficionados about their astonishing restoration project and the gorgeous hotel they’ve created.
An artisan of the present with the soul of the past, Javier Sánchez Medina works patiently with esparto grass, letting material set the pace. His Malasaña studio favours hand, memory and repetition, shaping contemporary objects that value process over performance and time over trend.
Renovations complete, it was time for Thomas and Ruth to add their own mark – a clean and simple aesthetic which merged Scandinavian design with Swiss charm, using a less-is-more objective without being afraid to choose classic design pieces as seen in the use of Danish furniture and iconic objects collected by Ruth. The overall result is one of crafted comfort and homeliness, which comes from conscious design.
A restoration den of raw genius – a weathered Tuscan house close to Montefollonico that has been allowed to expose her weathered elements, complemented with chic salvaged interiors.
'It all started almost by accident, in 1973. We often joke that we would have liked to do something else. And, instead, here we are: diving headfirst into the bathroom, designing the most intimate space in the domestic landscape for 50 years.' This is the story of AGAPE. 'Having fun, but never losing focus.'
On the banks of the River Vils in Amberg, the Bootshaus reunites five historic buildings, some dating back to 1250, into a composed riverside ensemble. More than a hotel, it is a continuation of place, shaped by patience, architectural care and a family ambition that grew with the building.
Some places don’t call you with grandeur or promise; they wait in silence, growing wild with time, and when you finally arrive, it feels as though they were expecting you all along. Such was the case with Vocabolo Moscatelli, a 12th-century monastery buried in the Umbrian hinterland, camouflaged beneath vines and encroached by forest. It hadn’t seen a soul in years. The architecture was slipping into ruin, almost consumed by nature. The buildings were quietly dissolving back into the landscape when Catharina Lütjens and Frederik Kubierschky first walked among their bones.
An object forged rather than designed, Feuerring carries the hand of a sculptor and the patience of steel. Created in Switzerland by Andreas Reichlin, it balances fire, form and function, ageing slowly through use as flame, weather and conversation leave their mark.
Just inland from the Algarve’s salt flats, Hospedaria reimagines a 1917 tavern as a five-room design retreat. Whitewashed walls, bamboo ceilings and rattan textures balance rustic ease with curatorial precision, creating a minimalist ode to Portugal’s rural soul.
Farmstead aesthetics slip seamlessly into bed with a contemporary cousin at this bucolic commune of guesthouse and creative venue space known collectively as the DENHARTEN.
An aged former Convent, the history and heritage of this house has been lovingly exposed to play host to modern furnishings and a chilled vibe right in the heart of old town Pienza.
A seductive fusion of small design hotel and stylish villa, architect-owned Casa sits between medieval streets and scented pines, just a short distance from the coast in Portugal’s Alentejo region.
Created within a former Augustinian cloister and chapel, Hotel August was designed by Vincent Van Duysen, one of Belgium’s most acclaimed architects, interior and product designers.
Built into the original Medieval town walls of Hall, this former guilders’ house of traditional Tirol style has stood here for well over half a century with records dating back to 1450. Today, behind the rose petal façade, lies the small Kontor Boutiquehotel.
Ceramics, pencil-lead greys, putty linens and aged furnishings set the tone at this restored design guesthouse in the market town of Lana, South Tyrol, where original simplicity leads the experience.
Birch and smoked oak hug the thick walls and capture the house’s DNA from the days as a farmhouse barn. Once a resplendent Renaissance home to the Bishop and favoured lodgings for the merchant traders heading along the Romanesque Via Claudia Augusta.
Mesmerhaus, once the sexton’s home, is today a wonderful style chameleon of ornate exteriors and simplistic elegant interiors. The effect is of refined originality, a heritage house reduced to its essence through a calming language of decorative stillness.
Set against the forested Beskydy (Beskids) range in the Carpathian Mountains, this 200-year-old designer hideaway fosters modern Czech country living whilst giving heritage a hug, decked in whites, linens and twisted rafters.
Medieval rooftops cradle a hidden spa at Goldene Rose, where heritage and wellness meet through a rooftop infinity pool, saunas and a calm, timber-led design language.
In Baden-Württemberg’s Geisingen, 1280 Krone reawakens as a design hotel within one of Germany’s oldest inns. Four restored houses merge raw architecture, timber and stone into a tactile harmony of heritage, modern comfort and quietly radical restoration.
Design rebels, hospitality mavericks, and fearless creators—Rebel Femmes is a roll call of women shaping travel, style, and architecture with attitude. Iconic hotels, bold visions, and cultural game-changers.
read more
As the property neared finishing, Fabio took the decision to keep the garden wild and naturally indigenous – where the boundaries between garden and rural countryside were blurred.
read more
Sisters of spaghetti, sibling architects, ethical knits, dad+son chefs at a place with no menu, to the hotels created by the minimalist aesthets – the Schgagulers, the curators – the Wiesenthals, and the glampot nostalgists – the Dissertoris, and we hop over to Syros where sisters Jasmine and Oana are rewriting island style.
read more
Anchored to specific genres of hotel design, The Aficionados print editions: Farmhouse Fabulous, Casa Gorgeous, Blueprint Beauts, Neu Heritage, Eclectic Rebels, Design Natives and Alchemists of Italy take the reader through the creation narratives. A sourcebook for hoteliers, travellers, style aficionados and those who appreciate design.
read more
Set up in the 1980s, by Drummond Shaw, the company began as a vintage salvage company, restoring old rolltop baths to a characterful beauty, perfect for upmarket interiors and of course, indulgent deep soaks.
read more
Built as an ‘alqueria’ (an Arabic farmhouse) in the 12th century during Mallorca’s Arab rule, which then became a Jesuit monastery in the 18th century, the house and grounds were in ruins; the estate utterly overgrown.
read more
Ruth’s original manifesto to listen to what the house wanted to be has served her well. Reinvented for the curious traveller, Brücke 49 has been welcoming guests for nearly a decade.
read more
The master of reductive design, Belgium architect and interior designer Vincent Van Duysen is a behemoth legend of pared-back aesthetic and minimalist style over a spectrum of design disciplines, including furniture, textiles, and lighting.
read more
Bold, creative and inspired by the dramatics of their mountain locations - these alpine architecture pitstops are for the design enthusiast.
read more
A think tank for the bold, the curious, the creators of tomorrow. Where minds collide, conversations spark, and urban life gets redefined. If you shape the future, you belong here.
read more
White takes centre stage, from Alpine retreats to Umbrian casas, where textured palettes flirt with light, craft and architecture. A fresh journey through Béchamel tones reshaping today’s most inventive hotel interiors.
read more
Josef Frank’s Villa Beer reopens in Vienna in 2026 following a careful restoration, offering rare access to one of his most important architectural works and a deeper understanding of the ideas that later shaped his celebrated interiors and textiles for Svenskt Tenn.
read more
Get the insider news and lowdown on what we've been up to, where we've been, and who we've met along the way. Be the first to discover new places and get the scoop on our favourites.