Julia and Richard’s place, nestling near the top of one of the Mediterranean’s most beguiling islands (as much for its way of life as its tremendous beauty), is a tiny glimpse of heaven. Days spent exploring the island met days spent simply enjoying Caseta Zanca itself, which is the best-conceived and most thoughtful of all the Airbnb locations at which we have stayed. It is, simply, the product of an extraordinary vision that blends an introduction to a simpler way of life with great generosity (not least, the two hammocks!). It is difficult to describe the reward of a regular walk up and down the slopes of the island: the reward on return is the cobalt-blue of the sea some distance below stretching out towards Sicily and the other Aeolian islands, the inhabited silence of an area where nature finds itself in conversation with only occasional passing traffic, and, at night, the ability to stargaze one’s way through the Milky Way. Richard and Julia are the most extraordinarily generous and informative hosts and it was a privilege indeed to be introduced to the island through them. For a way of life that eschews the worst of modernity, allowing natural beauty to speak eloquently on its own terms, this is the place!