I love my job.
I get to eat, travel and write about it. Life is good.
But when an editor asks me if I want to go stay in Francis Ford Coppola’s new luxury hotel in Basilicata, even I have trouble believing I do this for a living.
The hotel is Palazzo Margherita, and I’d been hearing about it ever since Coppola had bought the property about 6 years ago. First it was going to be a private villa, then a hotel.
The reason I got to go down was so that I could check it out for Travel & Leisure’s annual It List. Of course it made the grade.
And while there are better photographs of Palazzo Margherita all over the place, here are a few of mine. 
Palazzo Margherita
Bernalda, Basilicata
Italy
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Lovely!
This is so gorgeous. Do I need to take a 2nd mortgage on my house to stay here.
Unbelievably beautiful!!
It is more beautiful than I had imagined. Thank you, Elizabeth for the ultimate insider’s view.
Yes, you have a dream job. What a lovely place. I hope it gives a boost to Basilicata’s economy.
That was exactly the idea behind this, to raise Basilicata’s profile at a luxury level, and try to add something new to the economy.
It seems to have a lovely feel, very welcoming without being intimidating. I feel like I could happily curl up in most of these places. I love the pattern on the wall in the bar. What was the food like? ciao lisa x
The food was amazing! I’ll be posting about it next week. The pattern in the bar is a gorgeous fabric, sort of Wiener Werstatte.
Lucky you!! Looks fabulous.
The floor in your room is stunning. That zig zag of cream and bright blue…wow. Where else do you write? I would love to check it out.
Chelsea
http://viapecetto.blogspot.it/
Next to the Post Ranch in in Big Sur, this is my ultimate dream hotel. Gotta start playing the Lotto again!
Do you know if people working there are all Italian and from Bernalda or Basilicata, in general? Are all professional, in your opinion? Have you ever been in another place, in Basilicata? What do you think about that region and does the Palazzo Margherita represent traditions of that land and people or it is “far from that idea”?
Thank you!!
That’s a lot of questions! Most of the people were local, but had trained professionally. Yes, I’ve travelled a bit in Basilicata. I think that Palazzo Margherita is a mix of old and new, trying to make the traditions of Basilicata available to a wider audience at a luxury level.
Great!! Thank you!!!
I must see this hotel in person!
Your photos are gorgeous. I could stare at them for hours.
Not true what Katie Parla wrote about the food at Palazzo Margherita in today’s NY Times. We stayed there for 5 days and the food was consistently good and all from the region, as were all the wines, they were scrupulous about it. It sounds like she stayed there one night and then wrote a shoot from the hip dig, not fair.
I agree with you. I had four meals at Palazzo Margherita, all of which were local, seasonal and delicious. I even made pasta with the chef, which was a real treat. But Katie obviously has a different view point on things. Especially since she referred to the interior design of the Coppola’s rooms as ‘simple.’ If that is ‘simple’ then I’ve been living the wrong kind of life.
About as simple as long division … maybe she ended up at the wrong place.