The MARESA Story
Some of the most important things in life begin when you aren’t looking for them.
MARESA began in the hills of Tuscany.
Two women · One unexpected meeting
Beneath the Tuscan moon.
It began with a chance meeting between two women who, on the surface, came from very different worlds. But as the conversation unfolded, we discovered something unexpected.
We were both at a crossroads. Both questioning what the next chapter of our lives might look like. Both reflecting on everything we had experienced, everything we had achieved and, perhaps most importantly, everything we had yet to become.
We talked about life, relationships, careers, family, ambition, change and the expectations women so often carry. We talked about the feeling of reaching a point where the person you have become doesn’t necessarily fit the life you have been living.
And we talked about how easy it is to lose sight of yourself somewhere between looking after everyone else, achieving what you set out to achieve and simply keeping life moving.
We were both writing books.
Different stories, different experiences, but both born from our own journeys of resilience, self-discovery and transformation. It was as though the universe had placed two women at exactly the right table, at exactly the right time.
And somewhere beneath the Tuscan moon, over a beautiful glass of wine, a question emerged:
What if we created the place we wished existed?
The beginning
A place to breathe.
A place where women could stop.
Not because they had failed. Not because they were broken. Not because they needed fixing. But simply because they deserved the space to breathe.
A place where they could step away from the roles they had been playing and reconnect with the woman underneath them.
Who am I now?
What do I really want?
What am I ready to let go of?
And who am I becoming?
That was the beginning of MARESA.
More than a retreat
Luxurious. Beautiful. Deeply human.
We didn’t want to create another wellness retreat. We wanted to create an experience—a place where women could feel safe enough to be vulnerable, curious enough to explore and free enough to simply enjoy themselves.
Because transformation doesn’t always happen in silence. Sometimes it happens around a dinner table. Sometimes during a walk through an unfamiliar landscape. Sometimes in a yoga class at sunrise. Sometimes over a glass of wine when a stranger suddenly feels like an old friend.
And sometimes it happens in those quiet moments when you realise that you have been listening to everybody else’s voice for so long that you have forgotten what your own sounds like.
MARESA brings together luxury travel, extraordinary destinations, wellbeing, movement, nourishment, creativity, personal development and connection to create an environment where women can pause and experience themselves differently.
Luxury should feel effortless.
Wellness should feel joyful.
Personal growth should feel inspiring rather than intimidating.
Connection should feel genuine.
A space for becoming
Room to imagine.
There is something powerful about stepping outside your normal environment. When you leave behind the emails, responsibilities, routines and expectations, something begins to shift.
Room to think. Room to feel. Room to dream. Room to remember.
And perhaps even room to imagine a different version of your future.
MARESA is for women at all kinds of crossroads: women who have achieved a great deal; women who are starting again; women navigating change; women who feel something stirring inside them but can’t quite put it into words; and women who don’t necessarily need to change their lives at all—they simply want to experience them more fully.
We don’t believe there is one definition of transformation. Your journey is yours. Our role is simply to create the space for you to explore it.
The name itself carries our story
MAREA + LESA = MARESA.
Two women. Two journeys. Two names brought together to create something entirely new.
MARESA evokes the sea, the earth, the feminine and the feeling of being somewhere beautiful and far enough away from ordinary life to see things differently.
It represents a meeting point: between ambition and wellbeing; strength and softness; solitude and connection; adventure and stillness; who you have been and who you are becoming.
MARESA isn’t about escaping your life. It is about returning to it differently—with more clarity, energy, self-awareness and confidence, and perhaps a little more courage to choose what comes next.
That is MARESA.