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When Los Angeles based lawyers Stephen Lewis and Christian Scali first saw the original 16th-century Tuscan stone farmhouse in spring 2021, after touring nearly 30 properties in search of their dream place, they immediately fell in love.

“You look out and you see all the vineyards, you see all that hillside dotted with castles and towers and stone houses, and off in the distance, you see the famous towers of San Gimignano. So it’s just a really stunning view.”

After receiving the keys, Stephen and Christian renamed the property Villa Ardore, which has a layered significance, As Christian explains. “Ardore represents the Italian word for ardor, which generally means loving passion, and Ardore is the name of the small town my grandfather Scali’s family came from in Reggio Calabria. It has a special meaning for us because it captures both our family history and our feeling for the place.

”Prominent Florentine architect, Massimo Pierattelli, got hired to bring their vision  — “keep the original Tuscan charm of the place, yet modernize it”— to life, as well as a contractor and crew. But they remained firmly hands-on, making sure one of them was on site throughout the process to ensure that everything stayed on track.

Excited as they were, the couple also felt overwhelmed by the sheer scope of work to be done: a property-wide upgrade for the electrical and plumbing; gutting the kitchen and bathrooms in the main building; rebuilding the pool; adding air conditioning throughout; and upgrading to a high-speed, meshed internet system with satellite. In addition, they transformed a former barn into a private spa: an indulgent oasis featuring a 10-person whirlpool, lounging beds, dry sauna and Turkish steam bath.

Throughout the process, the couple never strayed from a firm commitment to source as much as they could locally, from the artwork on the walls (which is all for sale), to handcrafted wood furniture right down to light fixtures in the bathrooms. “If we couldn’t find something, we had it made locally,” Stephen says. “There were only a tiny handful of things we had shipped from the US.

”In addition to preserving the property’s traditional Tuscan design ethos, their commitment to sourcing locally — as well as the fact that both speak Italian — also helped the couple integrate well into the local community. Connections that now help create an unforgettable experience for the villa's guests, whether it’s a local wine tasting or al fresco lunch in town. “Locals view our guests as our friends or our family, and they treat them that way,” Stephen says. “The degree to which people we made these connections with are so open to our guests has really touched me. It’s also shown me that I’m not just imagining how close we are with them, because they extend that to others.

Read the full CNN Travel article by Blane Bachelor here