Over the ensuing years the family has lovingly
brought Reschio back to life, one stone, one olive tree
at a time. Twenty-six of the original farm buildings
have been restored and sold to private owners, includ-
ing architects, fashion designers, and tech titans;
some can be rented when the owners are away. Now
the castle itself, Castello di Reschio, will be reborn in
June as a 36-room hotel, combining the jaw-dropping
interior design of the estate’s houses with the historic
charm of a building that has seen more drama than
you’d find in a Game of Thrones box set.
The Bolzas have embarked on this journey
despite—or perhaps because of—their inexperience
in the hospitality industry. “We’re not hoteliers,” said
Count Benedikt Bolza, Antonio’s son and, since 2006,
Reschio’s CEO. “And nor are we property developers.
It’s been 26 years, and it’s still not finished.”
It is true that Benedikt trained as an architect and
that his wife, Nencia—Donna Nencia Bolza, formerly
Corsini, who comes from one of Florence’s most dis-
tinguished families—is an accomplished artist. Those
skills have proven invaluable at Reschio. But just as
important, I think, are their taste, good humor, and
tremendous affection for the land, as well as their
bottomless reserves of energy and determination.
Nonconventional hoteliers have been venturing
into the business for generations, of course, but
lately there has been a particular wave of big-hearted,
unusual individuals of extraordinary taste opening
hotels that reflect their personalities. Others include
Koos Bekker and Karen Roos, who, after achieving
great success with Babylonstoren, in South Africa,
went on to open the Newt, in England’s Somerset;
Francesca Thysse-Bornemisza, owner of Lopud
1483, in Croatia; and Garance Primat, who oversees
Domaine des Etangs, in France, which has provided
new surprises each of the four times I have visited it.
Nowhere has been a greater beneficiary of this
trend than Scotland. I was recently on the island of
Jura at Ardfin Estate, which was acquired by Greg
Coffey, an Australian hedge fund manager, in 2010
and will open later this month. Its joyous interiors
by Louise Jones lifted my spirits. So did whacking a
ball around the freshly completed golf course, which
some are saying is among the best in the world.
Then there is the Fife Arms, in the Highland village
of Braemar. Originally a hunting lodge, then a pub with
rooms above, it was recently magicked by Swiss gal-
lerists Manuela and Iwan Wirth into one of Britain’s
most exciting hotels, with an almost surreal character
in which arch Victoriana mingles with museum-
quality art. I asked Iwan why, with four children and a
global network of galleries, he and Manuela had gone
to all that trouble. “A hotel is a curated experience,”
he told me, “a long-term group show, you might say.above
A secret door
at Ardfin Estate,
in Scotland’s
Inner Hebrides
right
Swiss gallerists Iwan
and Manuela Wirth
at Fife Arms, their
historic hotel in the
Scottish Highlands
46 CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER APRIL 2020
PHOTOGRAPHS: ANDREAS VON EINSIEDEL; SIM CANETTY-CLARKE
why we travel^ ➤^ anthropology