One of Canada’s leading interior designers and much loved TV presenter, Smythe is an ardent traveller. He leads boat trips up the Danube and hosts Design Your Life retreats at fellow TV personality Debbie Travis’s Tuscan villa each summer. His next adventure is a podcast called Trust Me, I’m a Decorator
Far & Wide
An Insider’s Guide to Tuscany: Where to go, what to buy and how to pack.
By Tommy Smythe|March 4, 2025
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Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Smythe
›My Passion
My motto is: “I want to die penniless having seen it all.” Interior design and travel go hand in hand. The three most vital design components that lead to a creative life – inspiration, scholarship and courage – are all available through exploration.
›My Favourite Place
New York, Fogo Island, Paris, Milan, Nice and Lisbon are a few, and I return to them over and over. For the past three years my partner, the photographer Patrick Biller, and I have spent a few weeks in spring and summer in Tuscany. We’ve fallen for the rolling landscape and the people who reside within its folded hills.
›Seeing is Believing
I co-host a design-focused women’s retreat at the Tuscan villa (above) of my dear friend, interiors guru Debbie Travis, each year. Every time I arrive at the villa and round the corner onto her terrace, I am so struck by the view of Montepulciano perched on its rocky plateau in the distance that I almost feel gut-punched.
›If You Buy One Thing
Travel items carried home generally fall into two categories: something one puts on a wall or shelf and things that one actually uses. My souvenirs are mostly in the second category. In my kitchen I have a table that supports a collection of antique bowls of varying sizes, colours and glazes that come from places like Portugal, Provence and Tuscany. The bowls hold garlic, onions, avocados and more. When I reach for an onion – and ask yourself how many times in a week you reach for an onion – I remember a sun-soaked afternoon in the cacophony of a faraway market.
›Savvy Traveller Tip
Lugging luggage isn’t my thing. I’m small, so if my bag is big, it’s a problem. The key to travelling light is ‘rinse and repeat’. Coordinating separates that mix and match along with a laundry spot in every port will have you looking magnificent in Milan and boffo Barcelona every time out! Here’s what I pack and how I manage: Two pairs of pants, both navy blue, one light, like linen, and one heavier like a chino. One jacket/blazer that can be worn as a light coat or dressed up for dinner out. Five shirts, a mix of white and blue and two t-shirts for a surprise hot afternoon. For footwear I have one pair of sneakers, one pair of good Italian dress shoes and one pair of boots (for mud and rough terrain, it is a fact of life almost everywhere), seven pairs of underwear and eight pairs of socks. Because everything I bring is black, navy and white, it all combines to create many outfits for many occasions. Oh, and I do add a little colour with a scarf, or with the socks and underwear (even though nobody sees that – at least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!)
›My Takeaway
The truth about wanderlust is that it’s either in you, or not. If it is, there’s something to explore whether near or far, at almost any level of budget. It’s the choices you make that matter and it’s the level of engagement that you apply that will yield the best results for your mind, body and spirit, and yes, even for your home. See you out there.
A version of this article appeared in the August/September issue with the headline ‘Tommy Smythe’s Tuscany’, p. 90.
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