Chiara and Alberto are a young couple from Milan, with a strong bond to Elba Island, one of the jewels of the Tuscan Archipelago, where they own a charming historic residence known as Villa Damiani. For their civil ceremony, Chiara and Alberto chose the 16th-century cloister of the ancient De Laugier Barracks, which can be reached via the pink stone staircase of Salita Napoleone, leading up to upper Portoferraio. From this location, one can enjoy a splendid view of the ancient Medici city, once known as Cosmopolis, thanks to a large square that provides access to the barracks’ cloister.

When I meet a couple for the first time, after the first approach that helps us to get to know one another, I explain the dynamics of organizing a wedding and the precious role of the wedding planner. As soon as we are ‘fine tuned’, I invite the couple to reflect on their idea for their wedding by asking: is there a common theme? Why don’t you think about what you have in common and transform it into a leit motif as in a symphony for piano and orchestra? Their response is not always immediate. Sometimes, the future bride and groom already have an idea that they have worked out together. For Diletta and Alex’s wedding, the bride had already made up her mind.

When I talk about Tenuta La Chiusa, my heart swells and my face lights up. The Tenuta is something more than an agricultural estate that produces wine and olive oil. It is history, divine nature, pure magic unleashed from the encounter of natural and architectural beauties with an unequalled landscape of antique flavor. Everything at the Tenuta tells of its story: from the ancient walls that tie it and its imposing gates to the avenue of olive trees that opens up from the area of the Villa, or the little chapel, the avenue “guarded” by two ancient cypresses, the rows of white and pink oleander that push nearly all the way to the sea. I had “painted” this paradise with words for Pina over the telephone and, when she and her partner Gianpiero visited the Chiusa for the first time they were literally taken aback.