A decade ago, Spanish landscape designer Fernando Caruncho began work on a project that would connect the private walled gardens of several aristocratic estates in the Portuguese village of Santar, in the Dão wine region. Now, visitors will have a new way to access the 50-acre parkland: One of the ancestral manor homes within the greenscape of Caruncho has been converted into a small hotel. Formerly known as Casa das Fidalgas and owned by the House of Bragança, which ruled Portugal from 1640 to 1910, when the monarchy was overthrown, the Valverde Santar Hotel & Spa served as residence for the Bragança family until 2019. The Porto-based design firm Atelier Bastir undertook the restoration of the residence, preserving original details — including pitched, wood-paneled ceilings, 18th-century French and Portuguese furniture and bookshelves lined with -hundreds of timeless tomes — while carving 21 rooms, some with hand-painted ceilings . At the Memórias restaurant, chef Luís Almeida serves regional specialties such as roasted goat with smoked rice and buttery cheese-and-citrus pudding, made with ingredients sourced from Santar Vila Jardim’s gardens. Guests can wander the property’s sprawling acres to pick aromatic herbs including lemongrass and chamomile to use for massages and facials at the hotel’s spa, housed in the estate’s former wine cellar. From $490 per night, valverdesantar.com.
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Charm Necklaces That Meet All Moods
The concept of an amulet necklace or bracelet can be traced back to ancient times, when ancient civilizations were filled with amulets that had spiritual significance. For her latest collection, Los Angeles-based designer Darya Khonsary — who often references her Persian ancestry in her jewelry line, Darius — look at the shapes of idols discovered at the site of the Mesopotamian Eye Temple at Tell Brak and dated to the third millennium BC Khonsary made pieces including earrings, rings and charms that could be strung on a necklace, all made of 18-karat Fairmined gold. Paris-based designer Fanny Boucher takes a light approach to charms with her brand Bangla Begum, offers a selection of trinkets with suggested meanings. Among the available trinkets are a frog, which symbolizes a French lover, and a chess piece, which plays on the French word “échec” (failure) to celebrate a failed relationship. Endless Pearly’s Leslie Chetrit launched her brand in 2017 with a range of eclectic pieces, the latest being pendant necklaces featuring exotic mushrooms and a gold-plated Pinocchio, all handmade in her Paris studio. Created by former magazine editor Maria Dueñas Jacobs with her three daughters in mind Super Smalls, a line for children. Her pieces, like a four-leaf clover necklace featuring a real clover pressed into resin, are meant to be shared with family members.
Atacama, Chile, is known for its dramatic landscapes from dry desert and salt flats to volcanoes and geysers. Our Habitas Atacama, a 51-room hotel set to open in the northeastern town of San Pedro de Atacama on September 15, hopes to provide guests with a carefully designed access point to such an environment, while also part of it to keep them. The owners plan to make the entire property single-use plastic free, and food waste will be collected by a local company for composting. Rooms, some with a roof terrace or patio, feature tapestries and ceramics created by local artisans. Visitors can choose to try a sound bath or a temazcal ceremony in a traditional sweat lodge, or can arrange to take part in one of the many guided outdoor excursions, including hiking, biking, paragliding and stargazing. The hotel’s on-site restaurant, Almas, focuses on seasonal produce and wood-fired cooking, with dishes inspired by regional cuisine such as Machas y Rica Rica, which includes a type of razor clam native to Chile , and a lamb dish that shows clay cooking typical of the region. From $350, ourhabitas.com.
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Alex Katz’s New “Autumn” Exhibit in Chicago
After a retrospective featuring work spanning nearly eight decades at the Guggenheim last year, artist Alex Katz, 96, will have every reason to sit back and enjoy the accolades. But as a new show opening at Gray Chicago next month proves, Katz is still driven by the need to create. “What gets me going every morning is knowing I’m going to the studio to paint,” he said. Although many of his landscapes were inspired by Lincolnville, Me., where Katz spent several months of the year beginning in the 1950s, 11 new compositions began to appear (which will be shown alongside a series of 16 new photographs of ink on paper) takes shape on the brisk morning walks Katz took in New York last fall. “I looked up and I saw all these colored leaves against a blue sky. They were quite small trees, and the leaves stood out,” he recalled. “I felt a feeling of radiance and I tried to paint this sensation.” Across enormous canvases (some measuring as wide as 14 feet), he depicts windswept trees and delicate foliage of the changing seasons in vibrant golds, greens and reds. Painted in a kinetic, impressionistic style, these panoramic works create an almost immersive experience. “Alex Katz: Autumn” runs at Gray Chicago from Sept. 8 to Oct. 28, richardgraygallery.com.
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A Renovated St. Moritz Landmark
In St. Moritz, Switzerland, the fabled winter sports enclave of the Alps, the landmark La Margna hotel has reopened as the 74-room Grace La Margna after a multiyear restoration. Built in 1906 just above the town’s train station, the original property references the Art Nouveau style as well as regional design elements found in the surrounding Engadin Valley, such as large walls and playfully decorated which are facades. Exterior details have been preserved along with some interior aspects: In the ground-floor living room, the handmade metal chandeliers remain (although they have been retrofitted to accommodate LED lights), as well the marble fireplace and wood-paneled walls. . At the bar, with its new curved Carrara marble counter and velvet bar stools, the menu features Orma whiskey, distilled nearly 11,000 feet above sea level on the nearby Corvatsch mountain. The hotel restaurant, facing Lake St. Moritz, has reopened as View, with a Mediterranean menu. A bistro, Max Moritz, is expected to open later in the fall; a brasserie is set for the winter season. And in an entirely new wing, 27 guest rooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows that frame views of the village and the lake. From around $466 per night, gracehotels.com.
