About Us

How It All Began...

In 1981, Rudy traveled to the United States for the first time as part of a student exchange program. Before starting classes at Hall High School in Hartford, Connecticut, he took an Amtrak trip down the East Coast — from New York to Washington, D.C., and on to Orlando, Florida.



Just three months later, we became the owners of the beautiful lakefront property where Villa Santorini stands today. Construction began in early summer 2018, and after a few ups and downs along the way, we were finally able to move into our second home in Florida in August 2019.



Since then, this house has truly become our own little piece of paradise — and a second home filled with many wonderful memories. It has been part of our lives through happy times, the challenges of the Covid years, and even several hurricanes. Germany is, and always will be, our home, but whenever we can, we love spending time in sunny Florida. And when we are not there ourselves, we are delighted to share our vacation home with wonderful guests.

At just 17, Rudy discovered a dream in Florida that never really left him: to one day live among palm trees, in the sunshine, close to the water. What captured his heart back then still feels just as special today — the warm climate, the tropical nature, and the genuine friendliness of the people. Still, it would take nearly 40 years for that dream to come true. Throughout school, college, and his professional life, Rudy’s personal and business ties to the U.S. continued to grow. Some of those connections remain close to this day. In 1985, he met Anke — and before long, she fell in love with America too.

In the spring of 1995, we traveled to the U.S. as a family for the very first time with our two children. We stayed in a vacation home in Cape Coral, and that trip has remained one of our most treasured memories ever since. It also made our dream of having a place of our own in Florida even stronger.

Many more trips to the U.S. followed over the years — both for work and for pleasure — taking us to the East and West Coast, New England, the Midwest, and the Deep South. Then, in 2017, an unexpected opportunity came along: on a train ride from Cologne to Frankfurt, Rudy happened to meet someone who worked for a German-American company selling properties in Charlotte County. We hardly knew the area at the time, but right away, it felt like this could be the place for us.