As part of my collaboration with La Vita Sukha, I got a sponsored stay at their brand-new coliving space, and I went there with my husband for 2 and a half weeks in October and November. Here’s my honest review of my time at this conscious coliving space in Roseto Valforte, Puglia, Southern Italy – the good and the bad!

Accommodation and Amenities

We stayed in the luxury private double room on the first floor. As it should be, it was very clean and looked just like the photos (well, the main desk is a different, better one). It’s also massive – even bigger than some dorms I’ve been in, yet we had this room just for the two of us! Enough space to do some good exercise if you want to. There’s a huge wardrobe and a chest of drawers to store all your clothes. We even got our own private clothes drying rack that we didn’t have to share with other rooms – so no worries about finding somewhere to dry your washing (there’s a washing machine on the ground floor, free of charge to use)! What’s more, we also had a balcony shared with one of the other bedrooms on this floor – so lovely to go out and stand or sit on when it’s sunny!

We had an ensuite bathroom, in which you could have a lovely bath or shower, and we were provided with plenty of towels, even some for the swimming pool. There’s also a private annexe room – a small office attached to the bedroom, as an alternative office space to use if you don’t want to use the desk in the bedroom.

The common areas inside the villa are aplenty, with living rooms, dining rooms, and a decent-sized kitchen on the ground floor. There’s also a basement with a mini gym and a ping pong table that we made good use of.

I loved the kitsch décor in basically every corner of the house. As a big art nerd, it filled me with joy seeing it all. Many statues, artwork, crockery and furniture – quite a mismatch in parts, but it works!

I loved the villa’s private outdoor spaces. In the front is a lovely garden full of flowers and statues. In the back is a sizeable swimming pool, which is sadly not heated, but good if you’re into cold water or want to really cool off on a hot day! I liked the fruits being grown, where you could pick your own grapes and persimmons. In fact, I wasn’t familiar with the persimmon fruit (called “kaki” in Italian) before I got here, but now it’s one that I really like after snacking on it many times! The chicken coop, beehives and private forest are also in the back. Plus, whilst we were there, the live-in volunteers built a Temescal (a Mexican sweathouse).

Liz has a cat called Chopin that lives in the house. I’m not really a cat person, but she is quite an adorable and expressive creature. She might come over and want some of your food if you’re eating meat, but she’s not much of a bother as she doesn’t jump or you or anything.

Coliving Experience

There wasn’t very strict community management or regular events happening while we were there. However, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. La Vita Sukha is such a small coliving that it seems easy enough for everyone in the house to get along and agree to do some activities together without the planning that might be needed for a bigger coliving community. On the first night, this friendly American guy staying there showed me a couple of what ended up being our regular drinking spots there. Organically, we would all often have meals together and watch films together. And there are various coworking spots in the house where we could work together and interact.

It’s also a bonus that the host Liz is always in the house – this would naturally make her want to ensure that everything is in working order and not forgotten about. Also, having her warm physical presence was lovely, in that she was often easy to find if we had any questions or just wanted to chat and hang out. I’m not really the biggest fan of coliving spaces where you hardly see the hosts and only ever hear from them on WhatsApp, so this was refreshing to me!

Speaking of WhatsApp…yes, there was a WhatsApp group for the coliving. Sometimes it’s just needed to help arrange some things or contact people if you can’t find them in person. I’m glad that at least the WhatsApp group wasn’t too heavily relied upon and that most conversations were actually still in person!

I think the fact that La Vita Sukha is a rural coliving really works in its favour, as this means that you’re not really going to get people staying there just for the destination like many would if it’s a city destination. I have been in city coliving spaces where the guests were only staying there because they couldn’t get an Airbnb and they didn’t really integrate into the community. Whereas people tend to be staying here at La Vita Sukha for the community, so if that’s what you’re looking for, then fortunately, you will likely get that!

Location and Surrounding Area

La Vita Sukha is located in Roseto Valforte, and it was interesting but pleasant to stay in a small rural village. It’s quite a long way from any major airport, so just bear that in mind when planning your travels. We flew into Bari to stay for one night before getting a train to Foggia and taxi to the coliving space, and on leaving, we did the same but in reverse to Rome. This was fine for me, but could bother people who get a bit stressed from multiple changeovers on a journey. This is often just what it takes to travel somewhere rural, I’m afraid! Anyway, there’s a big sense of community both in the coliving and in the village. When you’re out and about, many locals will stare at you because you’re unfamiliar to them (whatever race you are), but just say ciao to them and most will say it back. It’s certainly a very different experience to a big city, but there’s a certain charm in not having so many choices for shops, restaurants, leisure activities, etc.

There are only four bars and restaurants, and we enjoyed frequenting three of them. One was a bit out of the way from the coliving, so we didn’t manage to check that one out – oh well, hopefully next time! We went to Bar Ristorante Pizzeria Del Corso quite a few times for both food and drinks – they only serve wood-fired pizza on the weekends, but they are delicious and really worth it! We were also in Bar Italia multiple times for drinks. Plus, my husband and I went once to the restaurant under the church, La Locanda di Tullio e Amalia – it’s beautiful inside with stunning views outside!

Roseto Valforte is a beautiful village – it’s literally like walking through a postcard! We definitely walked around it plenty to explore, and also went on a hike one time through some fields and woods, which was a highly pleasant experience!

Pros and Cons

Wi-Fi was a bit iffy at times in the villa. I loved the idea of the private annexe room in our bedroom, but I couldn’t actually use it to work much as the Wi-Fi wouldn’t work there. Liz quickly assisted in getting the Wi-Fi fixed and assured us that this wasn’t a usual thing – that we were just unlucky during our stay. Luckily, we could go down to Bar Italia to work from there if we wanted to (except for Mondays when it was closed).

I’ve had to learn to get used to the idea that not every coliving space is going to be as structured as some others that have weekly meetings to schedule all the events of the week. The way that La Vita Sukha organises activities in the community is a lot more organic. It would just be a case of someone taking the initiative to either decide in person or via the WhatsApp group what community members could do together. There’s no regular coliving meeting or calendar. This does have the benefit of giving you more space to slow down, take introverted times out and not feel FOMO compared with if there are always activities happening. Liz did mention to me however that she was looking at potentially getting a community manager in future, so it would be good to see how that transforms the atmosphere there!

Something I hadn’t encountered before was the rule of not getting a regular clean of our room unless we requested it at an extra cost. It ended up not being a big deal though as we didn’t really make much of a mess in the 2.5 weeks we were there anyway. If anything, the more frequent complimentary cleaning that you get at other accommodations can be a bit overkill, but I can’t complain about that being an option!

My Overall Impression

La Vita Sukha gets a lot right and has the potential to do even more. It’s done well considering the fact that it’s a fairly new business in the emerging space of colivings. The owner and host Liz has definitely put a lot of thought into everything and her hospitality is very good. She seems to do well at listening to any issues occurring, offering quick solutions and adapting quickly when needed. You can feel that she has a true passion for this project and isn’t just doing it to capitalise on the digital nomad movement. The strong emphasis on environmentalism and mindfulness is very apparent and inspiring. I often felt calm staying here, and it was much easier to slow down compared with a busy city or large-town environment. It’s not a fast-paced coliving by any means, but I don’t think it’s trying to be. It’s however a perfect place to be in tranquillity, get lots of work done without distraction, and also have access to a good community should you want to.

Overall, I really enjoyed my stay there and I’m already hoping to be back in the spring and experience it in a warmer season with new people. Will we see you there?

Check out La Vita Sukha, a villa in Puglia, Italy, that runs as a coliving space, retreat space and B&B: https://lavitasukha.com/