La Cavalerie, The Luberon, France

There are countless photographs of famous French designers’ homes. Spending a week inside one is another matter. Set in a valley within Provence’s Luberon National Park, Domaine de La Cavalerie was once Emanuel Ungaro’s private world—160 acres of lime trees, olive groves and near-total peace. The late couturier, celebrated for his bold colors and prints, helped define the “Space Age” look of the 1960s. His own creative refuge, however, was something else altogether: ancient, frescoed and deeply grounded.

La Cavalerie eschews trends for something more timeless, and more Italian. It was here that Ungaro spent decades designing, planting, restoring, and shaping his idea of beauty, often in solitude but also surrounded by family and creative friends. Today, the estate has been reimagined by Ungaro’s daughter, Cosima, and her husband, Austin Fielders, who have transformed it through their own creative lens into something between a private rental and a creative project guided by hospitality. Guests can rent the entire property or one of its two main houses with full staff for extended stays, inhabiting the estate much as Ungaro once did.

The designer’s touch is everywhere. He approached restoration like a couturier, commissioning stonemasons, reclaiming Italian marble, and hand-painting ceilings. There are Venetian-style rooms, layers of tribal textiles, velvet and brocade, achieving a sense of elegance that feels instinctive rather than over-designed. In the White Room, light shines through the open shutters and catches on suzani fabrics like a Renaissance painting. Tastefully printed stationary and marbleized pencils are within easy reach. The bathroom—lined in marble with a deep tub and Santa Maria Novella soap—feels generous but authentic. You can sense that La Cavalerie was crafted by people who actually spend time living: the overriding sensation is that of a home, not a hotel, one where shoes are unnecessary and comfort assumed.

Beyond the main house lies La Bergerie, a four-bedroom residence with its own sound studio designed with John Storyk of Electric Lady Studios, an homage to Ungaro’s love of opera, which drifted through the rooms during my visit. A 12th-century meditation chapel is a testament to Ungaro’s reflective process, and is used often. Meals here unfold with equal intention. Chef Bernardo Constantino, a young, spirited Umbrian, cooks from his surroundings: radishes served on fig leaves with fig butter and oil, tuna tataki with tomatoes and chives, peaches with wild strawberries. Even the bread—made by a local baker who limits oven hours to avoid overheating—tastes of the region’s honey.

Ungaro planted 4,000 olive trees here, and the estate’s oil has found its way to Le Doyenné, Localino, and La Grande Épicerie in Paris; guests visiting in autumn can take part in the harvest and tastings. La Cavalerie operates as a working, regenerative farm, complete with reservoirs, hemp-and-lime walls, and geothermal systems. Austin speaks of “listening to the trees” during their flowering, a lesson he credits to the agricultural experts from UC Davis, enlisted along with landscape designer Arnaud Casaus, to ensure the property flourishes.

At dusk, the natural pool reflects the surrounding hills, the cicada symphony sets in, and aperitivo gives way to dinners served in enchanting settings across the property. “We hope people leave inspired and carry it with them,” Cosima told me, “and that it brings the same comfort it always has for us.” In all of its refinement, La Cavalerie remains an oasis for those with worldly lives to travel between cultures during their stay, and maybe reach new creative heights. A place rare in its ability to be both grand and grounding, private and profoundly lived in.