As lazy, sultry, summer Saturday afternoons go, today couldn’t be more perfect. The setting is the Villa Arnica in Lana, Südtirol. The temperature is hovering around 30C but there’s plenty of shade and a refreshing breeze from the Dolomites. The day started with a gentle breakfast and then a seven-kilometre walk through the apple orchards, past guest houses with well-tended gardens, and into the buzzy Kuntrawant for coffee before a retail planning meeting with Pippa and Raffi – wait till you see what we’re cooking up for the autumn season for our shops and website!
In a couple of hours, we’ll head up to Obermais to ensure that all is in order for our Merano outpost’s annual summer party. Shortly after, readers from near and far will spill out across Dantestrasse to enjoy icy bottles of Forst, chilled weissburgunder, focaccia bites from the Ottmanngut hotel team and the best bellinis courtesy of Martin and Jakob, who popped down from Munich. As gatherings go, it’s Monocle at its smaller-scale best because it mixes local talent and produce with a crowd that comes from Bolzano and Trento – but also Dubai and Hamburg.
On the more ambitious side, it’s our Quality of Life conferences that embody all we do in a live, pacy format that runs across three days. In case you missed it, we’re heading back to Lisbon this year – where it all started 11 years ago. From 3 to 5 September, we will be turning things up a notch for the 10th edition of the conference but it also becomes the official warm-up party for our 20th anniversary. While the official date is 14 February 2027, why not use sunny Lisbon as a backdrop to get things going? Since our first conference, you might have noticed that the Portuguese capital has become something of an unofficial hub and while we don’t have a shop or office, we do have some ex-staffers who’ve returned home and who will ensure that we have an insider’s edge. It also helps that I have an apartment in town and a capable Portuguese executive assistant – even if he is from Porto!
If you’ve not been to a Quality of Life Conference, here’s what you need to know. First, there are no keynote windbags. Everything is a discussion hosted by Monocle editors. Second, we bring in the audience with real questions, delivered on the spot. None of this submitting your questions on an app. No! Third, it’s a proper crowd who are paying to be there rather than a room full of bored people dispatched by their companies. And while there are many other reasons to go, the key aspect is that we seek to unravel how we can make daily life better in transport, education, media, hospitality, shopping, security and much more. But in case that’s not enough, here are 10 more reasons to join us.
1.
If you’ve not been to Lisbon in the past decade, it’s a changed city. Most of that change is for the better but we’ll also discuss how to remedy some of the kinks.
2.
We’ll be anchoring the conference from the Gulbenkian. It’s one of Europe’s best cultural enclaves.
3.
Robert Bound will be back on stage. Just you wait!
4.
The mayor is giving us the keys to the city. Well, for a brief moment.
5.
You can lose yourself among some of our favourite bookshops on the continent. Under the Cover and Good Company come to mind first.
6.
You will learn how your feet are linked to how you think and respond to the world. Promise! You might even learn how to walk better.
7.
Lisbon on the Atlantic. The sea will be perfect. A bracing 17C like it almost is all year round.
8.
We’re going to have some serious conversations about the future of retail.
9.
There’ll be plenty of tips about how and where to invest in Portugal.
10.
It’s going to be the perfect way to wrap up summer and hit Q4 in full stride, possibly with exclusive footwear from a hot new Japanese brand.
Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns.
