Casa Mia

Tropical Bungalow Trio

Created by two friends, an Italian jetsetter and Brazilian interior designer, Casa Mia is a series of tropical garden suites built around a swimming pool, each space displaying its own vivid personality, and all joined by a central, stand-alone living room structure at its center. Taking design cues from the barefoot glamour of Ibiza, Punta dell Este and Mykonos, the breezy villa for rent in Brazil combines the elegance of the Mediterranean with Brazilian simplicity, for a bohemian oasis in a teeming garden, anchored by a pebble-lined pool.

A thatched roof hideaway dropped into a tropical garden, Casa Mia showcases the best of coastal living from around the world. Inspired by the barefoot glamour of Ibiza, Punta dell Este and Mykonos—a few of the owner’s favorite destinations—the Casa came together when two friends pooled their design talents and love of travel, to create three, open-air, tropical structures holding five bedrooms, plus a spacious living/dining/kitchen pavilion and veranda in a series of structures worthy of design magazines.

Each of the three buildings that make up Casa Mia showcase local materials such as biriba wood pillars, Brazilian rattan, hammocks from Pará and ceramics from local artisans in Bahia. Scrap wood creates funky furnishings, and polished concrete stairs and landings serve as bases for built-in mattresses and bench-styled sofas. Rattan makes an appearance as lighting, wall hangings, rugs and décor accents, and the buildings’ interiors have a refined boho style—sleek, spare spaces imagined by designer Marie Stella who shifted her practice from Sao Paolo to Trancoso, where she also runs a popular home décor boutique.

Bedrooms fill two structures on opposing sides of the garden. Equipped with sliding wood doors and cool, polished concrete storage and bed frames, each room has its own en-suite bathroom with a rain shower, bright openings to the lush garden, and small private terrace spaces. The property’s showpiece is its living room structure, an independent bungalow some 24ft high, with accordion doors leading out to the thatch-shaded veranda for lounging and lazing in locally made hammocks. The outdoor lounge is flanked by the dark, pebble-bottomed infinity pool, and the open-plan kitchen has bar seating, a generous dining area, and built-in sideboard.

AROUND

This villa for rent in Brazil is located in Trancoso, a site celebrated for its golden sand beaches and lush tropical nature. It's located in the Bahia region, a low-key, slightly off-the-beaten-path destination bathed by dense rainforest and surrounded by miles of beaches. The town of Trancoso is famed for its charming quadrado, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, with its whitewashed wedding chapel and colorful houses surrounding the square. 

Set on a bluff overlooking the ocean, Trancoso was originally settled by Jesuit priests in the late 1500s, and it’s still pristine and relatively undeveloped today. Later a small fishing village, the town then became a hippie destination in the late 1960s. Today, the town is more hipster than hippie, its stylish cobbled streets and candy-colored houses increasingly popular with trendy jet setters. The nearby villages of Arraial d’Ajuda and Caralva are worth a day trip, and one of Brazil’s most beautiful beaches, Espelho, featuring remarkably warm swimming lagoons formed at low tide by the coral reefs, is easily accessible nearby.

LOCATION

Trancoso, Brazil. Nearest airport: Porto Seguro (approximately 45km)

BEST TIME TO VISIT: December to March