ANTIPAROS
VILLA MANTO
In 1989, the owners of Villa Manto visited Antiparos for the first time and were mesmerized by the peaceful beauty of the island. They fell deeply in love with the whitewashed houses, finished with blue trims and crowded with bougainvillea and dreamed of building their own home, a sanctuary, overlooking the endless blue of the Aegean.
Not a day went by for them without thinking of Antiparos. And with every opportunity, they would cram their small Citroen car up to its top and along with their 3 young children would return to the island that had spoken to their hearts.
2 years later, they took their kids for a walk. They stood on a cape and talked for hours. The view was breathtaking. They were surrounded by the sea, the song of the seagulls and the smell of wild thyme. And as the sun set, the lights of Paros came into sight just like stars and kept them company. They knew that this was the place they had always dreamed of.
In 1994, at that exact spot, they set the first brick of what would later become their windmill.
It took 2 years, hundreds of design blueprints and countless trips to Antiparos until the first time they slept in their own home. And they were so thrilled they couldn't close an eye.
Every single detail, from the bricks and the colours to the lights and the door knobs was designed by them with immense love, passion and diligence.
The windmill, a traditional Cycladic architectural feature, is one of the last functional windmills given permission to be built in the Aegean. The design was based on the blueprint of the iconic windmill in the port of Paros and with the adjustments of the owners was transformed into a fully operating house with an attached kitchen.
Ever since then, the 16th of August 1996, this place became their point of reference. A happy home, full of life, friends and running kids. And without even realising it, they gave their children the best childhood ever, filled with memories of endless summers with all their loved ones by the blue sea and the Aegean, bright sun.
And their love for this island kept growing and growing. And they wanted to share it with more and more friends. So, they had to make room for more.
And again, through hundreds of design blueprints, sleepless nights and countless trips back and forth from Athens, in 2006 stood in front of the villa holding its keys and took millions of pictures.
Everyone could now have their own room!
However, there was one more thing left to be done.
As parents of three children, two daughters and a son, they always dreamed of building the tiniest chapel so that their kids could get married in the one place they loved the most in the whole world.
In 2008, their chapel "Panagia Styliani" was built. A very small chapel with white walls and blue windows, crowded with bougainvillea, surrounded by the endless blue of the Aegean.
In the summer of 2014, their daughter got married to the man of her dreams, at the chapel of their dreams.