Argentina

European-style country estates are sprinkled all over western and Central Europe and there are a few dozen examples in North America but other than that they’re pretty much absent from the rest of the planet. But there is one other exception: Argentina. Argentina was colonized by Spain and the population largely traces its ancestry from Spain and Italy. When these settlers came to Argentina, they found vast, fertile plains (the Pampas) perfect for agriculture. Within a few decades, large agricultural estates, or estancias, had been established and their owners grew rich exporting beef and other agricultural products back to Europe. So no need to cry for Argentina. The country’s landowning elite adopted a society that would have been familiar to their distant relatives back in Europe, a luxurious townhouse in Buenos Aires and a classy country house on their estancia. Some estancia owners employed European architects and the result was several country houses that would look right at home back in Italy, France or England.

Most of these country estates existed in relative obscurity but one or two developed some notoriety in the world outside Argentina. The Carcano family produced politicians, business leaders and ambassadors and they built their villa in a remote area of Cordoba Province. The Carcanos were also friends with the Kennedys as the patriarchs of both families served as ambassadors to the United Kingdom in the 1940s. John F. Kennedy visited the Carcano estate in 1941 and had a brief affair with Don Carcano’s daughter, Stella ‘Baby’ Carcano. Fling over, JFK moved on to a life in politics and a relationship with his beautiful wife, Jackie. And also Jackie’s press secretary, a White House intern, a couple of the secretaries, the girlfriend of a Chicago mobster, Marilyn Monroe, etc. etc. but I digress. Baby’s infatuation with JFK never dimmed and she kept up a regular correspondence with the future President until his death in 1963. Jackie, ever the good sport, visited the estate with her kids in 1966. Don Carcano’s other daughter, Ana, was married to Sir John Jacob ‘Jakie’ Astor VII, a member of the Astor family prominent in American and English social circles.