Wimco Introduces the New Vendôme Guide to Italy

LA DOLCE VITA JUST BECAME MORE ACCESSIBLE:
VACATION VILLA SPECIALIST WIMCO PREMIERS
VENDOME GUIDE TO ITALY

"Renting a villa is entirely different from staying in a hotel. We had not anticipated the absolute level of privacy and relaxation that is possible when you can set your own rhythm and spread out in your own vacation home. It has spoiled us". Carol, Manhattan

NEWPORT, RI, November 2003 – It’s right up there with seed catalogs as a must-have in the middle of winter. Destination specialist Wimco, the Newport, RI, and London-based luxury vacation villa and hotel reservations company, announces its premier Vendome Guide to Italy, 72 four-color pages of la dolce vita and how to get there.

"This is the stuff that dreams are made of," says Janis Gordon, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "This year, why not go to Umbria, to Amalfi? But then there’s always Tuscany."

Wimco’s Vendome Guide to Italy displays 77 villas a la Frances Mayes’ popular book and film, Under the Tuscan Sun, but without the worries thereof. The tantalizing display of villas, restaurants and antiquities follows in the tradition of Wimco’s popular Vendome Guide to St. Barthelemy and Vendome Guide to St. Martin as a virtual "how to" when it comes to enjoying Italy.

"Vendome Guide to Italy is designed to stimulate turn-key villa life, depicting 57 villas in Tuscany, 14 in Umbria and 6 on the Amalfi coast, along with highly detailed and descriptive Wimco-garnered and filtered destination information that our clients have come to depend on," says Gordon.

Each villa receives a half page of text and colored photos in regions including Tuscany, Umbria, Almafi, Capri, Ischia and Venice. All of the destination information was gleaned by Wimco staff who personally visit each area and each villa before signing it on. In the process staff thoroughly comb the villa’s region for dining and cultural attractions.

The guide’s editor is Quentin Warren, whose familiar voice resonates from his CV as a former guest editor of the Vendome Guide to St. Barthelemy, former managing editor of Blue Water Sailing, associate editor of Cruising World, and most importantly committed villa traveler.

"The decision to concentrate on Italy came after repeated requests for villa rentals in Italy," Gordon says. "Recently Wimco has become the Authorized Representative of Salogi Villas in the Lucca and Chianti areas of Tuscany. In addition, the finest, most reliable villa rentals of Umbria and the Amalfi region have been added to our repertoire. This growth in the Italian market reflects Wimco’s mission to provide villa product where people want to be. And Italy is in great demand!"

Vendome Guide to Italy is available through Wimco at $11 per copy. Wimco in the US can be reached by writing Wimco, PO Box 1461, Newport, RI 02840. By phone, please call toll free 1-800-449-1553; email info@wimco.com; or log on to the website www.wimco.com. Wimco International is at 16 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HT. By phone, please call toll free 0800 838 318; email info@wimco.co.uk; or log on to the website www.wimco.co.uk.

For 20 years Wimco has been the exclusive representative of Sibarth Villas in St. Barthelemy, an island famous for luxury rental villas and chic lifestyle. Wimco/Sibarth has established credentials as a licensed, FNAIM agency certified to conduct real estate rentals in France and is affiliated through Sibarth with Sotheby’s International. Wimco has over 1,000 luxury villas, distinctive hotels and resorts internationally in such select areas as Italy’s Umbria region, France’s Provence and St. Tropez. Wimco recently opened a London office, known as Wimco International, to serve the European market.

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