Bal Harbour

our years ago, London-based jewelry designer Thelma West and her partner, Stefano Liotta, formerly director of business development for Apple, had all but given up on their quest to find a house in Puglia for their family. They had vacationed there, and it was a favorite of their three daughters, the middle of whom has a rare neurogenetic disorder, Angelman syndrome. "It started as an idea to find a place to give her a future, that could be a home for her and kids like her," says West, "But year after year of looking, we got inspired by different ideas." Still, the pair could never find a place that quite felt like that would-be home, until their agent brought them to a rundown mansion just outside Putignano. The impact was near-instant. "It was magic. This stone structure that felt like it had seen great days, but still had so much story to tell." The pair snapped it up, and rapidly repurposed that glorious near-ruin into the 10-bedroom Casina Cinquepozzi, a fully staffed, exclusive-use property that welcomed its first guests this spring. (The name is a nod to the five ancient wells, or pozzi, on the land.) It has been a true passion project for the Neapolitan-Nigerian couple who have restored and rejuvenated every aspect of the 40-acre estate, from its olive groves to a one-time pigsty, artfully rebooted as a wine cellar. They wanted to tap local experts for the project, which was headed by Luisa De Toma from Federiciana Restauri and her all-female team, after they spotted her work restoring a chapel in Puglia's southern reaches. West recalls the 150-year-old bale-making machine that De Toma took to her studio and worked on for nine months until it was pristine before being installed as a sculptural object in one of the rooms. "She shed a tear when she was letting that piece go." West insisted that they retain West and Stefano Liotta at Casina Cinquepozzi Thelma West dips into the pool at Casina Cinquepozzi. F London jewelry designer Thelma West brings her discerning eye to Puglia, where she's readying to unveil Casina Cinquepozzi. Ahead of the luxury villa's opening, we tapped in to see what else has caught her eye—from the runway to the vines. BY MARK ELLWOOD west end style setter " The message we're trying to send is that this house isn't just ours, but belongs to Puglia." — THELM A W EST the dozens of chairs found in the virtually abandoned house; they've been reupholstered in Italian fabrics. "The message we're trying to send is that this house isn't just ours, but belongs to Puglia, and should shine a light on the craftsmanship of the place." Even the old stove found in the kitchen wasn't junked, but rather covered with a glass top in order to be used as a breakfast bar. West and Liotta were hands-on with the project, learning how to regeneratively farm the surrounding land—which was filled with unkempt olive trees and a patch of vines that produced a workaday red wine— nourishing the soil, for example, with lemon and eucalyptus trees, allowing their leaves and fruit to fall and naturally enrich it. They opted to produce a small-batch rosé rather than a red, dubbed Primofiore, with just 4,000 bottles; after a wine critic stumbled on it, and rated the wine highly, West laughs that they had to limit buyers to just six bottles per person. The only exception: a client for whom she'd made an engagement ring who asked to serve it at their wedding reception in the South of France (the couple will produce the estate's first new red, in addition to that rosé, later this year.) Perhaps West's proudest innovation, though, was converting the old stables into a full, standalone apartment where the couple plans to establish a residency program for creatives to stay and be inspired by the culture and countryside. They're in the process of setting up a committee and, later, a foundation to help field enquiries and run the program, which she hopes will allow others to engage with Puglia as she has. "First, they can unwind, then feel inspired, immersing themselves in the land and the town." They don't want to limit the scope, though, to conventional artists. "Imagine a Nigerian chef: and throwing some Pugliese ingredients in front of them and saying Hey, make magic." C O U R T E S Y O F T H E L M A W E S T BALHAR B O U RSH O P S .CO M

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