How can any place be more beautiful than Santa Lucia! The memories of the forever changing blues and grays of the sky and the water, the rocks, cliffs and terraces, the hills and valleys of Tuscany will be forever etched in our minds. What a wonderful introduction to Italy! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Barbara Tiger – Poughkeepsie NY

Enjoyed the flowers, landscape and the resident pair of seagulls, who I discovered by accident. One of them was sitting on a clutch of eggs at the time of discovery, so I did not disturb it again.

Elio was very informative in telling us about the history of the villa and this part of Italy with Mildred Arpino doing the interpreting.

Melvin Tiger – Poughkeepsie, NY

what a surprise and treat to meet you again at the airport, Nicky, after so many years! You’ve been as gracious as I recall from days at the YWCA. The love that you two show each other, this beautiful land by the sea, and visitors has enveloped us and made our stay here a glorious adventure. You and Mildred have given us a once in a lifetime joy that we shall always treasure.

Although future sunsets will pale in comparison to the ones we have enjoyed here, they will always be a reminder of the warmth and generosity extended at Santa Lucia.

Fondly,

Gayle and Nick Garin – Poughkeepsie, NY

Dear Nicoletta and Lindsey,

our initial trip to Italy could not have been ore enjoyable. This enjoyment would not have been possible without your gracious hospitality and warm acceptance, While the sights in Florence, Venice, Pisa Volterra etc. will be with us back in New York, it is Nicoletta, Lindsey and your majestic Villa that will remain the pinnacle of our trip. Although the masses will treasure the art of Da Vinci, we will always treasure the memories of the Villa, shared with wonderful people and lasting friendship of the “Turners”.

With much gratitude,

Jack and JoAnn Peluse – Poughkeepsie, NY

La Vista! La Sole! La Mare! La campagna! Bellissimo! Villa Santa Lucia is magical! Thank you to our gracious hosts … Our personal tour and travel guides and translators … for all your help connecting us with family and helping us choose where and how to go. So happy you were here. We enjoyed all those sunsets, yoga on your rooftop, dinners with wine on the patio, the beach!

Mike loved the COOP! Our stay was wonderful. We loved meeting your friends and especially the dinner at the Castle. Maybe next time we’ll bring our children and grandchildren and maybe the fisherman’s cottage? Mille grazie!

Maryann and Michael Masuicca - Oswego, NY

Grazie and arrivederci!

Kim and Mark - NYC

Dear Nicky and Lindsey, 

We’ve enjoyed our stay in your lovely villa the past 3 weeks. From here we drove to many parts of Tuscany which we loved. We also learned to use the trains and spent some time in Florence and Venice.

It has been a pleasure to return “back home” to this villa and enjoy the comforts of this place.

The early mornings are beautiful here with the sound of the sea! Also there is such a sweet scent coming from the bushes with white blossoms surrounding us and we have even seen your turtle!

Thank you for allowing us to share this place.

P.S. Elio has been very kind and helpful.

Sincerely,

Gunta and Bob Dominiani ~ Poughkeepsie, New York

Villa Santa Lucia is lovely, beautiful, wonderful, awesome, delightful, fantastic and more!

This is the perfect way to be introduced to Italy.

The villa was filled with treasured friends and we ventured forth every day to explore the riches of Italy: food and drink, beauty of Tuscany, cities, towns and the wonderful people.

The kindness of strangers was especially impressive to me, someone who doesn’t speak Italian.

The Villa and Tuscany will always have a special place in my heart forever.

Mary B. Summerlin ~ N.Y.  U.S.A.

My dearest Nicky and Lindsey

For probably one of the few times I am at a loss for words, but I will try.

Your warmth, graciousness and love, sharing your beautiful home with Will and I and our family is a vacation to remember.

The experience of your house, gardens, views, food and friendship could not be surpassed anywhere in the world, and we thank you so very much.

We are so lucky and we realize it every moment since you have entered our lives.

Thank you again with love,

Marilyn and Will ~ New York City

Our Month in Tuscany at Villa Santa Lucia

   In November of 1998, Tom and I rented the Villa Santa Lucia in Castiglioncello, Italy from NIDO members Nicoletta (Nicky) and Lindsey Turner. We rented it for the month of September 1999. For a whole year we anticipated our visit there, and on September 1^st Tom and I and two of our four children, Regina and David left New York and arrived in Milan, Italy on September 2^nd. We rented a Peugeot and drove to Castiglioncello to Villa Santa Lucia. When we arrived we were delighted to see how beautiful it was. It is perched on top of a cliff overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and surrounded by horizon. It was stunning. The entrance to the house is preceded by an old roman-style stone staircase at the top of which is a long terrace, the width of the whole house and tiled with terra-cotta, with a long table and chairs for relaxing. There are several staircases leading to different parts of the property and to other gardens. Then there is the staircase leading down to the semi-private beach and swimming in the sea. It was lovely, more than was revealed on the overall brochure of the villa.

   When we arrived, we met Elio the caretaker … everybody loved Elio … he’s a very pleasant person who always had a smile and a cheery greeting … “Buon Giorno!” He came by almost every day to be sure all was well and if anything went wrong he got right on it to see that it was taken care of. We laughed a lot and chatted in Italian as best we could (Elio spoke only Italian). We all communicated so well.

   The house was great … furnished in old antique (some in the Florentine style) pieces. We had three bedrooms and two baths. The four of us were there for the whole month of September, then the third and fourth week Tom’s cousin and her friend came, and the fourth week another friend of the family came. By the last week there were 7 of us in the house. It was such fun. We had all our meals out on the terrace, all with wine of course (except breakfast), and we all shared the cooking. We had dinner by sunset every night except for one night when we had a storm. There was only one other day of rain but it cleared by afternoon. At times we took turns cooking and other times two or three of us cooked together. We did our shopping at the local Co-op Supermarket only ten minutes from the house by car. Also, we shopped in Livorno which is about 20 minutes from the villa. There we went to the Saturday markets. The indoor market was in a huge building with food stands throughout. There were vegetables, fruits, meats, cheeses, wines pastries, and one whole room just for the fish-mongers. Everything was exceptionally fresh. In addition to cooking at the villa we went to dinner in some lovely restaurants and had wonderful meals and excellent service. One night we went to a small cozy restaurant in town (Castiglioncello). When we sat down a lovely lady came by with a cart with a tank full of fish. When we asked for the menu she said “I am the menu”, and she proceeded to tell us, in excellent English, the name of each one and how it was prepared.

   There were some days when we just lolled around and went swimming in the Sea, and walked around and met the other people renting the other apartments on the property. In the beach house we met Marco and Graziella from Florence. They are childhood friends of Nicoletta. In the apartment along-side  the back of the house was Dr. Stern and his wife who were staying a week on their way home from Genova where he gave a presentation on a paper he had written on Exceptional Childhood Diseases. In the newer apartment on the right side of the house, was the lawyer and his wife from Livorno. Other days we planned trips to some of the small towns nearby. We went to Pisa, Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, San Miniato, Volterra, Assisi, Venice, Rome, Greve, Lago Trasimeno, the Chiantigiana – the wine region, etc. etc. Our daughter Regina did all the driving. She was the only one who was able to compete with the Italian drivers. Besides the local roads, she had to navigate some steep ones leading into the mountain villages. On one occasion we went up a steep dirt road with sheer cliff on our side, and as we were turning a blind bend in the road, a town bus appeared, coming towards us. We had nowhere  to go but backwards. The bus driver inched his way alongside our car and passed. We could easily have been pushed off the side of the cliff. That’s how close we were to the edge.

   On a similar road, we stopped at a lovely Agriturismo (Pensione in the mountains) in Montescudaio. It had a winery attached. A woman came out to greet us and brought us into the wine cellar, a big warehouse. We tasted wines and olive oil and bought some bottles of wine she had, dated 1985. She picked figs off her tree and let us taste them and gave us pears from her other tree. Then off we went to visit the Castle at Vigna Maggio where they filmed the movie “Much Ado About Nothing”. It was a private residence, and we were not allowed to go in. We visited other nearby wineries and bought more wine. When we returned home to the States we carried six bottles of wine from small wineries that do not export to the United States, also 1 bottle of Sambuca and 2 bottles of Averna, in addition to pottery from Passignano at Lago Trasimeno … all neatly packed with bubble paper in carry-on bags.

   The only down side of the villa, is that there is a train trestle across the street from the house, with trains going by periodically all day long and some at night. After the first two days or so, Tom and I got used to it and we thought “what train?” Everything about the villa was so great … the train could not spoil it.

   The night before we left for home, Elio’s wife Giuliana and their son Massimo came to visit to say good-bye. Giuliana cleans the house for in-coming guests. When we arrived, it was meticulously clean. We said our good-byes and the next morning, October 1^st, at about 7:00 a.m., Elio came to the house to say his good-bye. There was a lot of “Buon Viaggio” and “Ciao, Ciao” and hugs all around. Then off we went on our journey to Milan and Malpensa Airport. We stopped on the way at the Agip stops on the highway.

   It was all such a wonderful adventure. A month was great! After a month … it was time  to come home.

By Gloria Rubeo

As published in the November  issue of La Voce Del Nido

If I were to seek a haven of sea and sky and sage in bloom, fragrant flowering hedges and trees, where jasmine traces a hidden wall that shares the sun with slender lizards and turtles who are the size of large coins; where the sounds of the sea from day to day speak of constancy determined by the wind and the moon, where the tide kisses the Beach House steps and teasingly retreats; where the sun gives us  spectacular settings each night at about 8 (the 20^th hour), where I can sit and look at one flower or the pod of a cypress tree and become enchanted by the beauty and subtlety of nature, where with loving companions I can sup and sing and wonder.

My search is over, I am here.

I am alive at Villa Santa Lucia.

Mildred Emelia Cedro Arpino ~ Poughkeepsie, NY

Dear Nicky and Lindsey,

We can’t thank you enough for allowing us to share your paradise Villa Santa Lucia. It is much more beautiful than we envisioned. Our only regret is that we do not speak Italian and that we can’t stay longer. Elio and Juliana are wonderful and just as frustrated as we are that our communication is so limited. Please convey our gratitude and extend our hospitality to them if they ever choose to visit New York. We will be seeing you soon in our wonderful country, but Italy is definitely first runner up.

Once again thank you so much for giving us this wonderful opportunity!

Love,

Nanette, Anthony Alicia and Anthony Jr. Loscalzo ~ Poughkeepsie, NY

Dear Nicky and Lindsey,

Thank you for the much needed rest and the warmth of your magnificent home.

As you know I have traveled much of the world only to find that Villa St. Lucia has quickly become the place of my heart. I am eager to share this wonderful place with all those I love. Time cannot go fast enough for me to return here.

My love and appreciation to you both!

Sharon Secord ~ Poughkeepsie, NY USA

Ciao! I had so much fun Nicky and Lindsey are the best Love Sarah (age 8) ~ NYC       << Click on image to see larger

Nicky and Lindsey CIAO From Melanie (age 6)     << Click on image to see larger

Ciao Thank you for the best vacation of my life. It was a blast, the beach, the little trips … Love Corey (age 10)

Arrivederci St. Lucia

It is the final day here and I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful and fulfilling way to spend it.

Up at dawn (..OK 7:30…) breakfast upstairs on the terrace, then downstairs to chit chat with Nicky, Lindsey Sharon, Frank and Lia and Giuliano. Then down to the “spiaggia” to play on the rocks (the sea is a little too rough to swim but … what a feeling to have those beautiful waves splash against you on the rocks…)

“Grazie Dio Mio Per La Bellezza”

Then time for lunch with Nicky who made a fabulous meal, then back to the beach.

I am now up on the “Lighthouse deck” trying not to think about having to leave “domain”.

The sun melting down feels like heaven, the crash of the waves feels like heaven and after a very hectic few days I couldn’t have designed a more perfect last day.

Thank you Nicky and Lindsey for sharing such a beautiful place with us and the rest of the world.

Michelle~ Poughkeepsie NYs