From Sydney, Australia to the Umbrian countryside.

We’re Kaila and Ludovico Terraneo, the husband-and-wife team behind Vero and Poggio Belvedere. Our story began long before Umbria, on a small island in the middle of Sydney Harbour.

Sydney, Australia

We met in 2014 while working at an outdoor Italian-style bar on a small island in Sydney Harbour. Ludo had recently left Lake Como to learn English and start fresh. Kaila, originally from Vermont, had rather spontaneously packed up her life in the U.S. and moved to Sydney, Australia. A few years later, we were building careers and a life together.

Ludo moved into high-end Italian kitchen design and project management. Originally from Cantù, one of Italy’s most important design districts, he had grown up surrounded by craftsmanship and an appreciation for Made in Italy.

Kaila’s path had taken her from musical theatre and hospitality in the U.S. into the world of wine. In Australia, she completed WSET Level 3, worked a harvest in Victoria and eventually became a Global Brand Development Manager for Australian wine brands.

We were both doing work we loved. Then, on Thanksgiving 2017, Kaila’s mother, Jude, was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.

A Wedding on Lake Como

Ludo proposed. We knew we wanted to marry while Jude could be there, and she had one very clear request: Lake Como. While Ludo remained in Sydney, Australia, Kaila returned to the U.S. to care for her mother. From opposite sides of the world, we planned our wedding in five months.

In June 2018, our families came together for a week on Lake Como, culminating in our wedding overlooking the lake. Somewhere in the middle of an incredibly difficult time, we also discovered just how well we worked together.

Two months later, Jude passed away. Losing her changed our perspective on time—and on the kind of life we wanted to build. And then, unexpectedly, an idea arrived.

The Spark

One day, a friend casually said to Kaila: “I could see you two running an agriturismo in Italy.” It was a passing comment, but something about it stuck. Kaila went home and told Ludo.

We looked at each other, and there was a spark. The wheels started turning. From our apartment in Sydney, Australia, we began dreaming. We viewed properties online, studied what already existed, looked at the competition and started imagining what we could create differently.

Slowly, those ideas began taking shape. That was the beginning of Vero. Long before we had a property in Italy, we were already building the idea behind it.

Finding Umbria

Eventually, dreaming from Australia wasn’t enough. We began flying back and forth to Italy—never together, as one of us always had to remain in Sydney, Australia—viewing around 15 to 20 properties on each trip. Our search focused primarily on Umbria, with some time spent looking in Tuscany.

We kept coming back to Umbria. We saw extraordinary potential in a region that remained remarkably overlooked internationally: exceptional wine and olive oil, truffles, cashmere, ceramics, food, medieval towns, artisans and landscapes that rival anywhere in central Italy. Then, on one of those trips, we saw one of the last properties on the list.

Poggio Belvedere. A 17th-century farmhouse surrounded by olive trees, looking across the Umbrian hills. We could see Vero there. About two years after our wedding, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, we packed up our lives in Sydney, Australia and moved to Umbria.

Building Vero

We arrived with the concept of Vero already firmly in our minds—and an enormous project ahead of us. We rebuilt three apartments from the ground up, undertook a huge landscaping project, transformed the pool area and designed the outdoor spaces you see today, including the outdoor kitchen and bar built around the property’s centuries-old mulberry tree.

Inside, we carefully selected textiles, furnishings and pieces with a connection to Italy and the region, balancing the character of the farmhouse with the comforts and design we valued when traveling ourselves. Almost everything guests experience at Poggio Belvedere today was something we considered, designed, renovated or created along the way.

We weren’t simply renovating a house. We were bringing Vero to life. And at the same time, we were discovering our new home—meeting chefs, winemakers, farmers, artisans, producers and small businesses who would eventually become an important part of what we offer our guests.

Why Vero?

Vero means Real. Authentic. True. From the beginning, our idea was bigger than accommodation. We wanted to create the kind of Italian experience we were always searching for ourselves: thoughtful, personal and deeply connected to the place around it.

Over the years, our network has grown alongside the business. Our work still takes us down backroads, into workshops, wineries and kitchens, introducing us to people doing extraordinary things—sometimes in places you’d never think to look. Those relationships are at the heart of Vero. Our Favorite Places series shares some of their stories.

Vero Today

What began with a passing comment and a spark in our apartment in Sydney, Australia has become our life and work in Italy. Today, Poggio Belvedere is Vero’s home base—a place for private stays, weddings and celebrations, retreats and thoughtfully curated experiences. Beyond the estate, we create tailored stays and journeys, sharing the places and people we’ve come to know and trust.

Our backgrounds still shape everything we do. Kaila brings together musical theatre, hospitality, wine, branding and marketing to lead Vero’s creative direction, events, travel planning and guest experience. Ludo’s background in hospitality, Italian design, Engineering Management and project management shapes the estate, operations and the practical side of bringing it all to life.

And we’re still doing what we started doing in Sydney, Australia all those years ago: dreaming, discovering and asking what we could create next. It’s time to savour the Italy you’ve been craving.