The ebullient arts of Pascal Morabito – architect, perfumier, sculptor and quixotic creator – are carved into the cliff of one of the world’s best hidden beaches, Bingin.
Morabito Art Cliff is an amazing escape where guests and beach hunters are required to leave the car behind and walk along a pretty pathway and down some serious steps. The effort is worth every muscle flex. Descend the staircase and the view is breathtaking and Morabito Art Cliff matches this natural beauty with a unique built environment.
The villas are as charming as the Morabito Art Villas on the beach at Berawa – a destination that is believed to be the inspiration behind artist Damien Hirst’s Venice Biennale 2018 entry that beamed into found treasures.
Morabito Art Cliff has six individually designed villas named and themed after Pascal and Marie’s favourite destinations on the globe: Santorini, Venice, Capri, Manhattan, Miami and Cartagena.
Each have air conditioned two bedrooms and living space plus ensuite bathrooms, some have Jacuzzi’s while Miami has a private pool. Every room has big and astonishing views over the blue Indian Ocean from Padang Padang beach to Dreamland. Every mirror inside the villas is perfectly placed to capture the views and often creates a 180-degree ocean scape effect.
“I’m getting too old to travel to so many of my favourite places,” Pascal says, “so I decided to bring these places to Bali. It is easier to come to Bingin than to get to Cartagena.”
Like Capri and Santorini, Morabito Art Cliff clings to a cliff but better than both of those destinations, the property is merely steps away from the beach.
Santorini Villa feels that is has slipped off the time and space continuum from the Cycladic Island and fallen on Bali’s Bukit peninsular.
White and blue rules with curved arches and multiple decks, benches and concrete floors painted in washed blue on blue within a French Baroque-style frame. The main bedroom – which has glass doors to the balcony and ocean views from the bed, is named for Salvador Dali and has a tribute to the artists The Temptation of St Anthony – but with the saint bearing a sword instead of a cross – on the ceiling. The white room has an ensuite that captures the view to the famous surf break off Dreamland. The room has a private access to a four person Jacuzzi that delivers a superb massage under the night sky where limited ambient light creates a sky full of stars – some blazed across the sky.
On entering the second delightful bedroom, which has a fabulous original 1950’s P&O bedhead with working lights, enjoy the design quip where the door into the bedroom looks like a mirror.
Expect to be looking over your shoulder to uncover the prank.
The dining table is in a central position overlooking the white and blue painted terrace and ocean view. White antique French furniture and Indonesian day beds compliment the design.
The kitchen is Parisian in size and equipment with just enough gear to produce a fine meal in a small space.
The Greek-style private roof top dining room is filled with tables and chairs under charming Balinese umbrellas and open views up and down the coast.
A sunset and dinner on this terrace is insanely beautiful. Think blue doors and white walls with brilliant bursts of pink and orange bougainvillea flowers mixed with the soft fragrance of frangipani trees. A giant empty Baroque frame molded into the ocean front wall is sweet art and Insta-impeccable.
The Capri and Miami villas share a floor and can be opened up to create a four bedroomed single villa with a private pool and Jacuzzi.
A butler looks after every whim and breakfast is brought directly to the villa at the specified hour. Dinner is available with notice with daily specials like barbequed lobster and fresh pasta dishes.
Every other request is only a text away.
Morabito Art Cliff is an evolving project with a new villa under construction now and plans to build down to the beach.
Each villa exhibits extraordinary international treasures of art and antiquity that Pascal has collected over his long life of searching for beauty.
Expect museum quality original carved Roman stones from when Rome occupied France – we are talking circa 52 BC – and marble from ancient Greece.
Every niche and corner bears visual details such as Chinese porcelain to empty frames capturing the raw limestone cliff, old indigenous boxes, and black or red lacquered chairs with gold trimming. The old collection of Chinese furniture works well with contemporary tricks like the remote controlled curtains.
All six villas enjoy a lush back view of the green juggled cliff and side views of the ragged coastline, where families of monkeys live and eagles soar.
Morabito Art Cliff with Marie and Pascal as hosts is dreamy barefoot elegance with the French flair that will murmur to romantics.