THE BRANDOLINIS’ BAHIAN RHAPSODY

W MAGAZINE

“The inhabitants of Trancoso’s beachside manses, including the Brandolinis, tend to hibernate at home during daylight hours, structuring their schedules around very late lunches. “We invite people at two,” Georgina says. “They arrive at three, and we eat at four.” For non-homeowners there’s an increasingly glamorous selection of inns like the Uxua, a cluster of nine houses and apartments furnished in a chic Bahia-mod style and nestled in a garden off the square.

Any number of sublime deserted beaches are within an hour’s drive, as is everyone’s favorite home-cooked lunch spot, Sylvinha’s, where at high tide the path to the entrance is underwater, so you need to bribe a fisherman to take you across by boat. Around 4 p.m. the little shops on the Quadrado start to open, and by nine things are buzzing at restaurants like Maritaca, an open-air Italian place that fills with chattering, Marni-clad blonds from São Paulo.

“People keep saying, ‘Ah, Trancoso is the new Ibiza!’” she says. “I really hope not.”