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Richard Keith is driving around Nevis during a downpour, his expectations drenched with disappointment. "This isn't what I expected," he says. "I hope things look better tomorrow after the rain has stopped."

Keith is concerned-and for good reason. If Nevis doesn't impress him, it likely won't impress many of his club's 1,200-plus members. Keith is co-founder, president and CEO of Private Escapes, which recently merged with Ultimate Resort to become the industry's second-largest destination club. The newly combined club is currently developing 11 oceanfront acres on Nevis. When finished, the island retreat will join the club's swanky portfolio, which includes 140 properties located in 50 of the world's top resort destinations.

Nevis is not the first time Keith has doubted a Private Escapes project. Two years ago, he met with architect and master builder Fulvio Di Rosa in Tuscany on a chilly March day. They toured Frances Mayes' mountain property-not the home featured in her No. 1 selling novel, Under the Tuscan Sun, but one that is equally breathtaking. Di Rosa transformed her home from a state of ruin into an authentic Tuscan treasure-something Keith couldn't believe until he saw the "before" photographs.

"I did that on purpose," says Di Rosa. "I wanted to show him firsthand what could be accomplished with a pile of rubble when it is placed in the right hands."

Private Escapes was impressed-so much so that the company agreed to let Di Rosa transform another dilapidated structure into a rustic Tuscan retreat for Private Escapes members.

"'Good grief' was my first reaction," recalls Keith, remembering when he first saw the 17th-century farmhouse, Rigo Saltio, which sits on 20 hillside acres outside Lucignano, Italy. Much of the structure was missing, including a good portion of the roof and both exterior and interior walls, and many of the rooms were overgrown with weeds. Still, Private Escapes could envision the property's great potential.

"When I stood on the hillside looking out to Cortona and the valley below," says Keith, "we got out of the way."

For 25 years, Di Rosa has worked to rebuild a handful of Tuscany's centuries-old ruins. It is painstaking, detailed work. Borgo di Vagli, a 14th-century hamlet outside Cortona, took 10 years. The end result was so impressive that Private Escapes purchased the property during the same visit they first saw Rigo Saltio.

"It's not a simple process. That's the beauty and excitement of the restoration of something that dates hundreds of years," says Di Rosa. "The home (Rigo Saltio) isn't only beautiful; it evokes a very strong feeling."

Encompassing 3,300 square feet of authentic Tuscan warmth and charm, Rigo Saltio has a large study, spacious kitchen and dining area encouraging good conversation fueled by fine wine and food. Though the "new" materials are as old as the home-original beams were restored and reinforced in a cassetta pattern and overlook the 300-year-old cottoo tile floor-Di Rosa credits much of Rigo Saltio's authentic ambience to two large rock formations found in the home's two master suites. Instead of blasting them to pieces, Di Rosa kept them intact. "The decision to keep them and to highlight them became a key architectural detail," he says.

The rocks evoke an incredible sense of strength, an unbreakable bond to the land.

"Sometimes you leave a portion of yourself in a project," shares Keith. "Rigo Saltio took more attention, focus, and TLC than most of our portfolio. It might be my favorite of all."

Still, Nevis is just down the road...

Private Escapes, 866.536.4700, privateescapes.com