Masseria Montelauro

A beautiful, secluded Puglia farmhouse that combines rustic charm and contemporary comforts.
The Masseria Montelauro is one of those wonderful unassuming accommodations that are ever more difficult to find in this day and age, so we were delighted to come across it in our trip to Italy. It really is a blissful place, a small family-run hotel converted from a 19th century farmhouse on the outskirts of the harbour town of Otranto.
What’s so special? The atmosphere, the simple yet effective decor, the landscape, the wonderful hosts, just about everything really. Restoration, for example, has been done with total respect to the original features, in keeping with the Mediterranean colours and ambience.
The superior rooms, junior suite and suite, have a characteristic star-and-barrel vaulted ceiling and has been painstakingly decorated to an extremely comfortable level. Traditional, rusticity and contemporary. The garden, yes, with its orchard, olive trees inviting swimming pool by the pergola tree and its peaceful location is also one of the house’s strong points, as is the fact that the tranquility it affords does not preclude any activity.
In fact, kids will love the medieval castle and small sandy beach within 10 minutes’ drive of the harbour town. To end with, we couldn’t put it better than the Elisabeta and her two daughters, the charming owners who state “Waking up at Montelauro is a beam of sunlight that illuminates the stone vaults of the rooms.
Holidays here are always too short.