I first discovered Marrakech five years ago. At the time, I was fascinated by its contradictions. A city where apparent chaos coexists with extraordinary beauty. I thought I had understood it. I hadn't. A few weeks ago, I returned to Marrakech to spend time with Narjès, our local Search Expert. Early in the trip, she told me something that caught me off guard. "The first time I came to Marrakech, I hated it. Today, I live here with my family. Let me show you why."

There's a simple test I use when evaluating a luxury real estate market. I count the five-star hotels. It sounds almost too simple to be useful. But over the years, working across European luxury markets, I've found that nothing predicts the trajectory of a high-end property market better than the density and quality of its ultra-luxury hospitality. Hotels don't lie. They are massive capital investments. Nobody builds a 50-million-euro palace on a lake or a coastline unless..

Everything starts with a coffee in Puglia. May 2024. The olive trees here have mastered the art of patience. They have stood for centuries, watching empires rise and disappear, families come and go, fortunes made and lost. They have seen architects arrive from Milan, foreign buyers searching for authenticity, and more than a few people convinced they would “only need light renovations”. [...] Our clients, Niels and Maxime, had been introduced to us by a local restaurateur.

A professional athlete’s career is short. Their wealth shouldn’t be. A professional athlete’s career unfolds in seasons, rarely in decades. Ten years, sometimes less. Income is concentrated over an intense, exposed, demanding period. Wealth, on the other hand, must endure across years, markets and generations. Between these two timeframes lies a gap that is rarely addressed with the rigor it deserves.

Travelling to Puglia requires roughly the same mindset as life itself: expect the unexpected and try to keep your head held high, whatever happens. We arrive in May, drawn south by the red earth of the Terra Rossa. That evening, we join Tristan and his partner, our local Experts, for dinner at their masseria. The coolness of ancient stone walls. Candlelight dripping slowly onto long wooden tables. Homemade spritz, antipasti, pasta alle vongole...