It's a brilliant Texas sun that shines through the windows of Villa Texas, but the store is a paeon to Italy, to la dolce vita, to everything that softens life with beauty. Wrapped in the aroma of lavender, you think you have been transported to the Mediterranean. The owner, Darlene Marwitz is happy to watch you soften, for her intention has been to bring la dolce vita to the Hill Country of Texas.
It started with the acre of lavender she planted close to the Pedernales River. The sight of the fields in bloom inspired her to create a store stocked with candles, perfumes, sachets, heat wraps, even fragrant pillowcase. There is no surprise that lavender was but the first step to this Villa in Fredericksburg. Not resting with scented products alone, she traveled to Italy in search of fine goods. She has added linens to make sleep dolce, soaps and lotions to make the bath dolce, antiques and even lighting because the light should be part of the sweet life too. You can even find a film, a book, the music of Italy. Not forgetting that this is Texas, Marwitz has luscious aromatic products made in Texas, too. Our personal choices for souvenir -choices that scented our suitcase- were Texas bluebonnet and Texas lavender soaps. Then we found a hand lotion and a shaving cream and added that to our bundle. But, oh, there were lavender strips to keep that aroma in the car. We finally asked Marwitz' friendly staff to stop us. Like Marwitz, we wanted to bring everything dolce home and fill our lives with lavender. To keep italy in the forefront, Marwitz sponsors events that share the love of Italy.
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