It all started with a bet. Years ago, amid the nightlife of Odesa, Ukraine, international opera sensation Leonid Shoshyn sat drinking and laughing with friends. He was a young lawyer then, but he had no passion for the field. Soon, the friends struck up a game and quickly noticed a poster advertising dramatic theater auditions on the wall. The stakes were set: whoever lost the game had to audition. Leonid lost the bet, but he got the role. When he felt the way his heart pounded on stage, the aspiring singer knew he’d found his calling. Now, the dramatic tenor, who’s enchanted audiences f ..read more

When landscape architect Pat Trefz first saw his clients’ home in Naples’ prestigious Royal Harbor area, he knew there was a lot of work ahead for his team. The Tuscan architecture, with ornate columns and yellowed stucco walls, didn’t just cramp the facade; it also foiled one of the property’s best assets—the view.  The homeowners enlisted Pat’s landscape architecture firm, Outside Productions International (OPi), to head the task of revamping the nearly half-acre lot’s outdoor spaces and landscaping. In tandem with contractors of the Knauf-Koenig Group (KKG), the team got to work openi ..read more

When it came time to renovate, Beth and David Genuardi embraced the Mediterranean facade of their Aqualane Shores four-bedroom, five-bathroom home. The retired Philadelphia couple, who winter in Naples, pulled from the dark, organic palette of the Italian countryside to reimagine the interiors but in a fresh way fitting for our modern age and coastal locale. The couple enlisted Memphis designer Sean Anderson to refashion the interiors in a Neo-Mediterranean style. Out went the typical blue-and-white beachy interiors; in came a rich range of dark woods and natural stone, organic finishes, and ..read more

Celebrate your loved ones this Mother’s Day by going the extra mile. Find the right option to treat your mom this year among Southwest Florida’s best.   Marco Island   Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort and Spat: Buffet-style menu. Updates to come as the event date gets closer. See More    Maia at JW Marriott Marco Island: Brunch specials include all-you-can-eat charcuterie platters, seasonal salads and assorted stations with sweet and savory platters, like orange blossom French toast. Doors open. Buffet options from 12:30 to 3 p.m. $60 per person, $27 for kids under 12. See ..read more

On a hot, humid afternoon, the kind where green leaves melt into an embrace, Annabelle Tometich shows me where her mother’s mango tree stood before Hurricane Irma claimed it. Standing just off Fort Myers’ McGregor Boulevard, her mom’s home is a resilient Old Florida bungalow with a low roof and deep eaves. The mango tree, however, is a ghost, a divot in the ground hinting at the girth and age of a once-large tree, the one for which Annabelle’s first book, The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida and Felony, is titled. The tree appears throughout the pages like an oil slick with an iridescen ..read more

Belle’s dress was not described as blue; her apron not white. For eight visually impaired guests at The Naples Players’ 2023 production of Beauty and the Beast JR—Belle’s dress was thick and starchy. Beast’s ears were soft and fluffy, like a teddy bear. TNP invited visually impaired guests backstage to meet with the cast and interact with the set and wardrobe as part of the organization’s newer ‘touch tours,’ an offering that TNP aims to incorporate into all of its productions. The tours exalt the community theater’s recently updated mission statement that focuses on inclusivity. TNP recogniz ..read more

OK, I’m gonna put the hook in the vise. We want the shank parallel to the floor … The next thing we’re gonna figure out is what size eyes we want. The eyes will affect the sink rate.” I am sitting in the home workshop of Drew Chicone, saltwater fly-tying master, watching him create a salmon-colored imitation shrimp to attract fish. He wraps thread around the hook to form a body, secures little black bead chain eyes and adds silicone legs to mimic the crustacean’s anatomy, sparkling fibers for attention-grabbing shimmer and rabbit fur to regulate the fly’s movement. He snips the thread end and ..read more

Mariah Landry Landscape Architect, VIVA Landscapes Mariah Landry isn’t a force of nature. She’s a force for nature. During business hours, you’ll find her poring over blueprints for a lush and liveable native landscape, complete with walkable gardens with endemic plants, to weather the storms on Sanibel Island. After hours, or perhaps before, you may spot her on the water with her charter captain-photographer husband, John, or meeting with longtime partner Captains for Clean Water to brainstorm creative ways to promote native foliage, as they did with the mangrove arrangements that adorned ta ..read more

For husband-wife team Rasit and Ilkay Turk, the best art is inspired by the past. The pair behind Fort Myers’ The House of Turk & Turk silk accessories line sparked buzz when they expanded into the home last year. Their third homeware collection, The Garden of Nile—launched in February—connects to the brand’s wearable art line, with the same name and similar print as Turk & Turk’s best-selling scarf. Hailing from Istanbul, Turkey, a former capital of the Roman and Byzantine empires, the couple draws inspiration from ancient cultures. When she painted The Garden of Nile motif, Ilkay th ..read more

When Nicole and Manny Cruz rise at 3:30 a.m., it is already sticky-hot across the couple’s 200-acre farm, located near the line between Lee and Hendry counties. Orange groves stretch for miles, surrounding the farm on all sides. Valencias covered in dew scent the air where the calving herds will soon graze, their coats pearlescent from a good rain the night before and the protein-rich grass they feed on all year. Nicole and Manny pull on mud-caked boots and step out of their unassuming ranch home into the dim light outside. In the distance, thousands of chickens, ducks and guinea hens craft a ..read more