Borgo di Vagli is a remote village. A very VERY remote village, that consists of 21 fractional shared units. That means, there are 100 owners who share 21 units. It’s not a timeshare where you only own time somewhere, you actually own a fraction of a unit. You can choose your fraction, 2/3, 1/10, 1/12, or whatever. Everytime you come here, you can be in a different unit, or always the same. Interesting concept!

The village has a swimming pool and a restaurant and a gorgeous setting in the middle of nowhere. In fact, the last 2 km are on a funky, narrow, scary dirt road, where you always wish there is nobody coming your way. Backing up is 😵‍💫, driving at night is 😬, driving with a car with bad headlights is 😖! But so far so good! A few people we’ve met here choose to hire a chauffeur; they are too scared of driving themselves. But I’m a German trained driver and I like roads like that! Even at night 😎

I love this village; the olive harvest is in full swing, several of the “owners” are working with the farmers to rake and collect the olives – 🫒 to be made to olive oil at a mill nearby. Those “owners” are usually the ones from Norway or Canada, where olive trees are not to be found, so they go crazy about it!

The views from here are gorgeous, it is quiet, peaceful and relaxing!

The only hesitation I have is the inside of our unit. The stairs are very steep and each step is very high! It is dark inside, and the lighting is dim and yellow. Unfortunately our unit doesn’t have any outside area to sit; that’s the biggest disadvantage. But we are right above the restaurant and very close to the reception area!

And this inside is what I call the American dream. Americans love „old“, anything that’s older than 100 years creates a sparkle in their eyes. Is it a house built in 1890 or a piece of furniture, Americans are in awe of things that are older than themself.

In Europe, we live with history. Growing up in a city that was founded in the year 900 and being surrounded by history on a daily basis is more an arrangement than an obsession.

Borgo di Vagli‘s first buildings were made from stones of an old watchtower from the 14th century. The watchtower wasn’t needed anymore because the reign of the Medici (15th-18th century) brought a more peaceful life to the region. People settled down, they built homesteads and needed building materials. That’s how Borgo di Vagli was built.

Nobody in Italy or in Europe in general would choose to live like that anymore, unless they cannot afford it. Italians love modern design, they are masters in the symbiosis between old and modern. They accept the old, but they do love modern! And thank god we moved on, made our lives more comfortable and healthier. We build stairs that are even and not life threatening. Our heating systems are easy to use and do not require chopped wood. The houses at Borgo are somewhat upgraded: they have smoke detectors that immediately start peeping once you start a fire, but even after 3 days and 855 km away, everything smells like smoke, despite being in a separate room with the doors closed.

Btw doors / privacy / peace of mind: not all the doors are meant to give you privacy or peace of mind. The walls upstairs are 2.5 meters high, the ceiling is almost 5 meters high. And next to the bedroom is the bathroom. So if someone needs light in the hallway or bathroom, it is shared with everybody. So is any noise or smell. Did I mention the bathroom walls are also just 2.5 meters high?

I love old, but I feel very fortunate to live in the 21st century. I like my stairs even, I like a kitchen sink that drains the water and I really like privacy in the bathroom.

But as mentioned before, Americans are obsessed with history. They pay an arm and a leg to play medieval life for a few weeks a year. And it’s not cheap! If my calculations are correct, one fraction (1/10) is ~€100k, so each unit is worth €1million! And the maintenance cost €4000/year for the 1 month you can use it.

So it’s no surprise that almost all the owners at Borgo are Americans or Canadians (and one couple from Norway).