The residents and guests at one rustic villa near Siena include an artist, a lonelyhearts columnist, a jewelry designer, a dying playwright and a gorgeous 19-year-old virgin.
Its manager, Paolo Greco, who previously worked at Le Cirque and Il Nido, said the rustic Villa Valletta had an elaborate antipasto table and was decorated with terra cotta tiles.
Examples of smaller scale ecotourism resorts in China include the Red Capital Ranch (redcapitalclub.com.cn), which offers guests a private entrance to a wild section of the Great Wall and accommodation in 10 rustic standalone villas.
In the Caribbean, a new model for high-end tourism opened on the island of St Kitts, with rustic-luxe villas dotted about a vast organic farm that produces food for the restaurants and hands-on experiences for guests.
Case-in-point: all 66 spacious, rustic-chic villas offer terraces, many with private infinity pools that gaze out onto the sea.
The rustic-luxe villas -- with thatched roofs, partially canopied beds, and updated amenities such as large flat-screen TVs -- all have their own plunge pools, hammocks, and outdoor showers.
Inchcape Seaside Villas comprises 13 rustic, beachy studio or apartment villas and is located in the Silver Sands neighborhood on the south coast of the island.
A narrow staircase wound upstairs to the villa's three rustic bedrooms, with 10 beds, each of which looked out upon pale-green meadows sloping upward toward bald-faced granite mountains.
Stonefield Estate Villa is a rustic, yet upscale resort with 18 plantation-style villas set on 26 acres of gorgeous rainforest.
That includes cruises, villa rentals and luxe or rustic resorts along the Baja California peninsula, including Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas.
Its 11 villas are all at once rustic and sumptuously sprawling, each with their own garden, plunge pool, outdoor shower and beach access.
