An Italian Nobleman’s Villa Is Restored to Its Former Glory
“BY CHANCE, THIS has become a gay mecca,” says Jacopo Etro one September afternoon while drinking white wine, his Sicilian partner, Alessandro Genduso, off playing tennis, their 5-year-old daughter, Roberta, out with the nanny. “Because the prices are not so expensive and the beaches are nice,” he explains, adding that here in Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot, people wake up each morning and decide, based on the winds, whether the Adriatic or Ionian Sea is calmer for swimming.
Etro, who’s 61 and avoids the cruisier spots along the coastline these days, suggests another reason why men from Rome, Milan and other European cities have begun transforming the area’s castles and masserias into hotels and guesthouses, or why discreet foreign dignitaries have set up weekend refuges: For two decades, the region has been governed by leftists; Puglia’s current president, Michele Emiliano, “is very gay-friendly,” Etro says.
The previous president, Nichi Vendola, who served for a decade until 2015, was himself a gay man, one of the first out politicians in Italy.
But Etro has more outré theories, too: “It’s also because of the inhabitants, you know? Being a little bit Greek,” he notes with a smile, referring to when Puglia was colonized by the Greeks in the eighth century B.C. “There are a lot of bisexual people here.
