Finca Sonrisa
Finca Sonrisa on the beautiful island of Mallorca appears like a traditional finca but features a stunning contemporary interior and offers panoramic views of the Tramuntana mountains.
How would you describe Villa Santanyi in a nutshell?
Villa Santanyi is a modern architectural holiday home in Mallorca, Spain. It is the most serene place on Earth and staying there allows you to get centered and feel at one with yourself. It radiates complete calmness and serenity.
What was the inspiration to build such a modern house and rent it out to guests?
During one of our holidays in Italy we met architect John Pawson on the beach and were invited to see his flat in London. It was the first minimalistic place I’d ever seen and I just fell in love with it. That’s when we decided we wanted to build a house with John Pawson and Claudio Silvestrin. We then found this magical location and had the house built in the late 1980s.
Originally Villa Santanyi was just our family holiday home but once the children were grown up and had left I decided to rent it out to guests.
What did you like about the Architecture of John Pawson and Claudio Silvestrin?
I love the minimalist architecture of the house very much. My father was an abstract painter, so for me minimalism is like coming home. The house gives you enormous freedom of thought and is almost like a living sculpture, constantly changing with the light during the day.
Although we are art dealers, we decided against introducing any art into the house, the architecture simply doesn’t need it. It’s why the interior design is so restricted as well, to help keep the focus on the building itself.
What’s so special about the whole experience of staying at Villa Santanyi?
My favorite start to a day at Villa Santanyi is to go to the beach and swim. There are hardly any neighbors in this part of Majorca and being completely away from everything really makes it a unique and luxurious experience.
The surrounding nature is incredible to experience. During the summer, you can lie in the courtyard and have your own private piece of sky. In fact, in August, you can even sleep on the roof and look at the immense sky above you and watch the stars at night, which is just amazing.
Why did you decide to build a holiday home in Mallorca?
We decided to go to Mallorca because you can fly there every day from anywhere. The airport is amazingly connected to any city in the world, which was very important for my husband.
Majorca also has incredible nature and in the 1980s, when we built the house, it was a completely unspoiled island and not as popular as it is today of course. It is a big island, and therfore does not give you a claustrophobic feeling, as some smaller islands do.
To you personally, what has been the most rewarding about renting out the villa to guests?
The really nice thing about renting it is seeing how much our guests really love it. I truly enjoy being able to share Villa Santanyi, so that other people can participate in the appreciation of this beautiful place.
Many of our guests tell us how grateful they were to stay at Villa Santanyi and how they had the most wonderful experience of peace, nature and luxurious architecture all blended together.
