Word: villa
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...fret. It's not all raging nature at Phulay Bay. In fact, the architect's official design mantra is luk sanuk, a Thai phrase that translates as "have fun with the sun." And it's amorous fun to boot, judging by the fittings at this 54-villa love den, which include ridiculously enormous beds (the largest measure four by two meters) and myriad bathing options (colossal indoor bathrooms, outdoor rain showers and hot baths). Space is the most ostentatious luxury. Depending on which villa you're booked into, you can expect broad rooftop verandas, sprawling patios or plunge pools...
...Villa Laetitia's staff can arrange massage sessions, personal training and shopping tours of Rome, which naturally include a stop at a Fendi boutique. They also give tours of the mansion, which will eventually comprise an additional seven suites and a spa. Built in 1911 by Armando Brasini, one of Mussolini's favorite architects, its marble pillars and ornate ceilings are redolent with an Old World class that lesser boutique hotels would kill for. See villalaetitia.com...
When Anna Fendi Venturini, scion of the Italian fashion house, acquired the run-down Villa Laetitia in Rome, she saw potential in its cracked façade and overgrown garden. Fendi spent one year and several millions of dollars renovating the Art Nouveau mansion. The result is an upscale oasis of calm along the Tiber River...
Those who fret about overdevelopment in Bali will appreciate Alila Villas Uluwatu, alilahotels.com, on the island's Bukit Peninsula. The resort is the first in Indonesia to win Green Globe certification, denoting compliance with principles endorsed at the 1992 U.N. Rio Earth Summit. Only local materials are used. The planting of indigenous vegetation like sweet lemongrass for landscaping keeps water consumption down, as does the deployment of rain gardens to collect precipitation. Cabanas are made with old telephone poles and railroad ties, while volcanic rocks used in villa construction absorb heat from the sun and keep interiors cool, minimizing...
...selling newspaper El Universal rapidly accumulated more than 1,000 comments, the majority negative to the idea. Similar objections can be heard on the capital's streets. "If two men want to be together, that is their decision. But adopting children is a different story," says taxi driver Isaac Villa, 35. "The couple may seem okay, but they could always have that seed of badness." Engineer Hector Cruz, 59, said he voted for the leftist PRD but didn't like the new ruling. "Children growing up in a gay marriage would be traumatized," he said...