“The house abashed me. It was too reminiscent of the Cote d’ Azur, too un-Greek. It stood white and opulent, like Swiss snow, and made me feel sticky-palmed and uncouth”. John Fowles, The Magus.

Anyone who read The Magus by John Fowels would remember Villa Bourani, the house of mysterious and enigmatic Maurice Conchis. The story takes place on a fictional Greek island Phraxos which was inspired by a real island Spetses where young Folwels lived and worked between 1951 and 1953. Bourani was also inspired by a very real villa -  Villa Giacemia (Jasmine), situated on the south side of the island of Spetses, above Ayia Paraskevi beach.

In the 1950s, Villa Giacemia was owned by Petros Botassi. He and Fowles became friends and Fowels spent a lot of time visiting him at the villa, just as his character Nicholas Urfe did. It is said that Petros Botassi himself inspired the Conchis character in the novel.

Villa Giacemia still exists, it is privately owned and rented out as a holiday place as well as for special occasions.