La Baronessa
The house, the garden and the location are exquisite, providing the perfect base from which to explore Salento’s wonderful coastline and rich cultural interior
Set in the heart of sun-baked Salento, with its hard-to-resist mix of countryside, coast, culture and delicious food, this wonderful lamia has been sensitively restored and extended to create a beautiful house for eight.
The villa makes the most of Puglia’s soft light, with its mottled vermillion façade and warm neutrals on the walls inside. Guests will be wowed by the generous entrance hall with its frescos and its magnificent central table – a thin sheet of beautifully veined marble on decoratively carved dark-wood legs.
Terrazzo floors are artworks in themselves, with hexagonal tiles with a star design decorating the middle of one of the bedroom floors, while frescoes of palm leaves above a scarlet border are painted on the barrel-vault ceiling of the impressive ground-floor entrance hall. This is the limit of the decoration and the simplicity of the eclectic furniture, from antique to mid-century, paired with modern light fittings and shallow, fluted stone basins, offers a surprisingly cohesive, welcoming and gentle atmosphere.
The outside spaces remain true to the location. There’s a citrus orchard to the side of the house, olive groves surround it, and a well and a fountain form pretty features. Wisteria has been planted up old stone columns which will shortly form a stunning shaded, stone-paved walkway to the pool.
The fabulous coastline and the surrounding towns and villages with their Baroque architecture, glorious food and welcoming atmosphere are reason enough to visit this special spot in Italy’s heel. And La Baronessa is the property in which to really enjoy it.
