Ruspoli migrated his unique brand of hospitality, as well as his extensive collection of fine art and antiques, from across a wide swath of periods and places, to this fairly perfect setting – formerly a farm – near Ouirgane.
This being Morocco, the service is warm and generous. Less common for rural areas, it’s also quite polished, with servers remembering how guests take their coffee…
In the early ’90s, Fabrizio Ruspoli di Poggio Suasa, a French Italian aristocrat from Paris and a former dealer in 18th-century French furniture, moved to Marrakesh. Ruspoli, who grew up visiting his grandmother in Morocco, quickly felt at home among the city’s well-known expats — among them at the time the interior designer Bill Willis, the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé — and soon purchased the popular French restaurant La Maison Arabe, transforming it into the medina’s first riad hotel…
Dès l’entrée, senteurs de romarin et murmure des fontaines invitent à mettre ses sens en éveil : vous voici dans l’univers enchanté d’un prince esthète ! Pionnier de l’hôtellerie de charme à Marrakech avec La Maison Arabe, le prince Fabrizio Ruspoli di Poggio Suasa a choisi de s’enraciner dans la région d’Ouirgane pour y créer un tout nouvel éden pour quelques privilégiés…
Wandering through the gardens to sundowners on the green-glazed roof terrace or breakfast under the pergola is botanical rapture, with lake reeds and soft grasses shifting gently in the hot breeze. The gardens and scatter of buildings, carved with arched windows and doors, are rendered more beautiful by the imposing mountain backdrop from all angles – one protected by its Toubkal National Park status and as the hunting ground of the Moroccan royal family…
Far from the hustle and bustle of Marrakech, this trio of tranquil resorts showcases Morocco’s sublime natural beauty
In the world of travel, Morocco used to mean Marrakech. No longer. Yes, the Red City is as gloriously chaotic as ever. And sure, you could retreat into a riad, but perhaps it’s time for us to venture out towards destinations that aren’t physically far from the tourism capital but are, psychologically, worlds away – both from the city and from one another…
…Planted with luxuriant native gardens of oleander, jasmine, lavender, acanthus, and eucalyptus, the grounds overwhelmed me with the variety and density of their greenery…
