A n hour and a half’s drive northeast of Barcelona lies the sleepy village of Sant Marti Vell. At first glance it looks no different from any other 16th-century settlement in this part of Catalonia, but within its thick stone walls visitors get an extraordinary insight into the life of one of the world’s most important jewellery designers, Elsa Peretti. It is 50 years since Peretti joined Tiffany & Co, and 56 years since she bought her first home in the village.
By the time she died, at the age of 80, in 2021, she had bought and renovated 27 houses and large farmhouses. Peretti rented the majority to friends, artists and local creatives while living permanently from the 1980s between four of them — Casa Pequeña (the first house she bought here in 1968), Casa Grande, Can Noves and Casa Caballo — moving according to season, mood or houseguests. A bedroom would always be set up in each, ready for an impromptu stay.
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