General Description
Paradiso sul Mare was designed by modernist architect Michele Busiri-Vici and is considered one of his masterpieces. Its organic curves of Mediterranean-soaked light show many influences, from North Africa to Gaudi to Italy’s arts-and-crafts tradition. Every room is like a handmade, spacious seashell. The villa has the contemplative serenity of two generations of writers, with a magnificent garden of agave, cactus, cypress, palm, aloe, lemon, apricot, myrtle, and a forest of olive trees.
The views are stunning across an immense sea to the Pontine Islands, and back to the sweep of mountains and coast. The villa is wrapped in fluid terraces, with plenty of lounge chairs and in the distance are Naples, Mt. Vesuvius, and Ischia.
The property is enclosed by bougainvillaea and jasmine and has an outdoor shower and a secure double parking area.
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Location
Paradiso sul Mare, with its stunning views and private tranquility, looks out from a protected mountainside within a national park. Caves of ancient man are minutes` walk away. The small, nearby resort town of San Felice Circeo is named for the goddess Circe from Homer`s Odyssey; local wisdom relates that the mountain was her island.
The town’s Centro Storico boasts a medieval piazza, intimate restaurants and cafés, and stylish shops. Since the 1950s San Felice Circeo has been known to Italians but kept secret from most foreigners. In summer, well-to-do Romans rent villas and frequent the diverse beaches.
A km from Paradiso sul Mare is one of Italy’s luxury hotels, the Punta Rossa, with a fine restaurant, chic bar, cove beach, seaside pool, and health spa (all open to non-guests). Beside the swimming options in Circeo itself, just around the headland stretch the 20-km sands at Sabaudia, one of the finest beaches in Europe. Among its dunes, in the 1960s and 1970s, novelist Alberto Moravia, director Pier Paolo Pasolini, and actress Anita Ekberg were neighbors; Signora Fendi is still tweaking her villa.
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