Marie-Louise Scio grew up in the fabulous Hotel il Pellicano in Monte Argentario, a jet-set destination in a yacht-friendly corner of Tuscany where the likes of Sophia Loren, Emilio Pucci, and Jacqueline Kennedy romped in the summertime when the hotel was under her father’s ownership. One of Italy’s crown jewels, the luxurious hotel has become the definition of the elegant Mediterranean resort for its hip, international visitors looking for a slice of the Italian high life. These days, this savvy socialite, businesswoman, and mother is running the hotel with all the joy and respect she learned as a child.
The best part about growing up in a hotel was feeling like Eloise at the Plaza, but now I have a lot of responsibilities that I didn’t have when I was a kid. I loved it so much as a child, and I love it now, so it doesn’t feel like a job, even though I work like a dog. It just feels like the natural thing for me to be doing.
Wearing menswear just feels right, especially my Armani suit, because I feel like I’m really 70% man inside. I love men’s suits; I love the bagginess; I love the confidence that a woman has in a baggy men’s suit. It’s nice to look a bit like an old-time gangster.
A suit adds power to your presence. When you have it together, you feel confident just being in your own skin, but a suit can represent so much: sexiness, masculinity, femininity, power, and history. There are so many languages that a suit can speak.
The next step for the hotel is to bring the Pellicano to new places in the world– first up will be London and New York. The hotel has a special Italian quality that I want to spread: a real old-school luxury. I’m still looking for the perfect locations.
The Pellicano’s charms are that it’s as authentic and understated as it’s been since opening in the sixties. It’s such a rare quality in today’s world to be understated. It’s a gentle type of luxury: very chic without screaming and yelling, and I like that. I guess that’s my personality as well.
I get my quiet time starting in October– I go into hibernation after the super social life of the summer months at the hotel. In winter, I just go to the office, spend time with my son, and read.
I’m a person of extremes: very open and then very closed, very social and then very timid. The hotel is perfect for me because the seasons balance each other out between the quiet winter spent working and the event-filled summer.
It’s different for my son– he’s having the same experience I got, growing up in the hotel, but he doesn’t love it like I did. He sees me working a lot– the hotel eats up a lot of my time– and he hates it.
My personal motivation is burning in me like a constant fire. I think all women today are quite driven; for me, it means the drive to go forward with the business, to improve myself constantly, to be very present in this life, and to give my son the tools to be happy.
-Laura Rysman
