Matchmaker

Puglia Matchmaker: The Best Hotels and Resorts for Every Traveler

Does it seem like everyone you know has gone, is going or is talking about going to Puglia? Here are Indagare’s top picks for Puglia hotels and resorts to make your home base while exploring the heel of the boot in Italy's rugged coastline, charming ancient cities and towns, miles of olive groves and vineyards (and appealing food and wine experiences) and its incredible history, art and architecture. Whether you’re looking for a sprawling full-service, family-friendly multi-pool resort in Puglia, where you can flop and drop together, a romantic smaller-scale hotel with all the amenities, or a more intimate boutique-style palazzo to call your own, these are our top picks in the region right now. Contact Indagare for assistance in booking the hotels in Puglia that are right for you.

The Old Guard

Borgo Egnazia

For the ultimate five-star holiday 

Best for: Families, couples, and those looking for a full-service Puglia resort with beach club, golf, tennis (and lovely villas) in a prime location that showcases the best the region has to offer.
Rooms:
63 plus 28 three-bedroom pool villas and 93 borgos (family-oriented clusters of one- and two-bedroom houses)
Vibe:
Borgo chic (the resort is designed to look like a traditional Italian village, with beautiful limestone walls and materials produced in the region—along with a locals-only staff policy).
Location:
A top choice for its proximity to airports and popular activities, it is also near the small fishing village of Savelletri di Fasano, and not far from Alberobello, Polignano and Monopoli. Day trips to cities and towns are easily done from here.
Keep in mind:
Couples and those looking for more privacy should avoid the more family-friendly borgo side of the property, as well as the family-friendly pool areas and restaurants that cater to families and children. All guests can participate in an array of daily activities—including cooking classes, cheesemaking and olive-oil tasting—or just about any local experience you can dream up such as trunk shows with a designer, private yacht charters, wine-tasting in a cave and much more.
Top activities:
Full-service spa, massive indoor pool, three large outdoor pools, golf, tennis, bicycle rides, horseback riding, beach club, kids’ club for families, cheesemaking, cooking classes, olive oil and wine tastings, village and historic tours and hiking, pottery classes and fishing.
Where to Eat:
Signature restaurant, Due Camini; the more casual family-style La Frasca; Calamasciola at the beach club; and plenty of local options in nearby Savelletri, Polignano, Monopoli and beyond.

Palazzo Margherita

For the classicist
Best for: Couples and families with well-behaved children who are looking for an authentic palazzo experience in Puglia with personalized high-touch service.
Vibe:
Intimate, oasis-like renovated palazzo with a lovely garden and pool all owned by Francis Ford Coppola (and originally designed for his daughter Sofia in a classic style).
Rooms:
Nine individually appointed rooms and suites designed by Jacques Grange, with exotic tiles, wallpaper and furniture from around the world (including an original Murano glass chandelier and full wooden bar from Torino). Coppola’s two children and one grandchild–Sofia, Roman and Gia–each got to design their own suites, and you can feel their influence in the décor. Suite nine is dedicated to Coppola’s Tunisian-born grandmother and has North African design accents. The best rooms are in the main palazzo; garden rooms and suites have a more rustic aesthetic and get less light.
Location:
In the quintessentially Italian village of Bernalda, with its narrow cobblestone lanes and its very own castle, just over the border in Basilicata, west of Puglia.
Keep in mind:
Guests can watch a film from Coppola’s hand-picked movie collection in the drawing room, with its state-of-the-art speaker system.
Top activities:
Cooking classes, relaxing by the pool or in the garden or at a beach club, which is a 15-minute drive away, plus visiting the nearby sites such as Sassi di Matera. Indagare can help arrange private-access art, history tours and boat charters.
Where to eat:
Guests can choose where they eat each meal—in the main courtyard, the eat-in kitchen, Cinecittá (the cinema-themed café), the garden or their rooms.

La Fiermontina

For an urban getaway for city sophisticates
Best for: Couples or families with older children who are interested in art, architecture and cultural history (and looking for an upscale, refined resort-like oasis in Puglia).
Vibe:
A luxurious, small-scale (in a good way) resort in Lecce that was built as a tribute to the owners’  late Pugliese grandmother and great uncle.
Rooms:
The 20 rooms (mostly large suites, some with fireplaces and vaulted ceilings) are set in a 17th-century private home stylishly designed in muted tones. The four suites in a separate building opposite the main house offer more privacy.
Location:
Tucked on the edge of the city limits of Lecce (a.k.a. the Florence of the South), this property is the only one in town with a pool and a garden, and it's just a short walk to the city’s top sites.
Keep in mind:
Don’t miss the impressive contemporary art collection and the hotel's M.A.M.A. Museum, just up the block. Works on display at the hotel and in the collection include pieces by Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, Tobia Scarpa and Fernand Léger. Zephir (a.k.a. Boo Boo), the family lab mix, is often on-property, and his owners can be seen walking him around town after dinner. 
Top activities:
Relaxing by the pool, in the garden or at the spa. Historical or architectural tours, visits to Otranto and Ostuni or nearby beaches and sites along the coast, a private dinner at the M.A.M.A museum next door.
Where to Eat:
La Fiermontina’s full-service restaurant offers all-day dining, and guests can choose to eat among the olive trees or under the traditional stone barrel vaulted ceiling in the dining room. The food is a modern, light take on traditional Pugliese cuisine and features locally sourced ingredients. Bar Enzo is dedicated to the memory of Antonia’s brother, Enzo Fiermonte, a champion boxer and actor who was married to American socialite Lady Astor.

Castello di Ugento

For a sophisticated art and food-focused getaway

Best for: Older couples, foodies and architecture and history buffs looking for delicious food or a cooking school experience and a base in the south of Puglia.
Rooms:
Nine suites; the master suites with balconies are the best options. There is no room service, but the staff is warm and friendly and the lovely owners are looking to creating memorable, authentic experiences for their guests.
Vibe:
Intimate five-star boutique property set in a 1,000-year-old castle. The labor of love of former Pepsi CEO Massimo d’Amore and his wife, Diana Bianchi, it has been in Massimo’s family for four centuries.
Location:
Ugento, in the south, not far from Gallipoli and Leuca
Keep in mind:
The Puglia Culinary Centre is a major draw, offering cooking classes and local market tours with its chefs, so make time for a class or a morning trip to the local market. Don’t miss the 16th- and 17th-century Baroque frescoes throughout the hotel. In 2020, they are also opening a wine-tasting center.
Top activities:
Cooking classes, art tours, boat charters to nearby grottoes, day trips to Salento beaches, Leuca, Gallipoli or destinations further afield such as Lecce and Otranto or just spending time in the garden. Guests also have access to the pool and facilities at sister property, Masseria Le Mandorle, nearby.
Where to Eat:
Il Tempo Nuovo, the hotel’s restaurant, serves delicious meals in a modern dining room (with a glass floor showcasing ruins of the 900-year-old Norman tower found during the restoration).

The Newcomers

Masseria Torre Maiza

For the stylish, small-resort seekers

Best for: Couples or families with kids 10 and up who are looking to relax by the pool or on the golf course but also have an easy retreat from which to explore Puglia.
Vibe:
An intimate gated Rocco Forte resort, designed by Olga Polizzi,  which is set amid olive groves, lemon trees and bougainvillea on the grounds of a fully restored 16th-century masseria (farmhouse). 
Rooms:
There are 40 suites, some with views of the Adriatic in the distance. The best are the two-floor suites with private plunge pools. End rooms with golf course views and private pools away from the dining area and rooftop bar/terrace and pool are quieter and offer more privacy. 
Location:
Well situated with its own nine-hole golf course and a 20-meter pool near prime sites and the coastal towns of Polignano and Monopoli.
Keep in mind:
The pool area, complete with day beds and limestone columns and surrounded by olive, lemon and almond trees, is a prime spot to while away an afternoon with a perfect pizza and an aperol spritz or negroamaro rosato after a morning exploring nearby towns. 
Top activities:
Relaxing by the pool, touring Alberobello or top area sites, cliff-diving, spelunking, boat charters, and even a visit to Grottalgie to see designs by the Fasano family, who have been making ceramics for 18 generations (including the ones all over the property).
Where to Eat:
The hotel restaurant, Carosello, serves a thoughtful menu of local dishes that will appeal to anyone on a Mediterranean diet. Also near local spots in Fasano, Savelletri, Polignano and Monopoli.

Palazzo Bozzi Corso

For the art history and design lover
Best for: Couples or friends who appreciate art, design, history, food, wine and a good value and like the idea of a small city hotel that feels like a home in Puglia.
Vibe:
This is a sophisticated, stylish Baroque palace property, built in 1775. Owners Antonia Felali and her brother Giacomo Fiermonte have lovingly restored the 18th-century palazzo as a tribute to their grandmother’s brother, Italian boxing legend Enzo Fiermonte. 
Rooms:
It has 10 unique suites (many with high vaulted ceilings and balconies overlooking buzzy Via Umberto I or the garden), along with spacious, chic living rooms for use by guests and an after-hours honor bar.
Location:
It is the sister hotel to La Fiermontina, situated in Lecce’s pedestrian area, just a few blocks away.
Keep in mind:
Those wanting to feel like they are staying in an intimate city hotel will be happy here. Guests have access to the pool, garden and restaurant at La Fiermontina, just a few minutes away by foot. Those with mobility issues should look elsewhere, as the property has a long grand staircase to access the upper floors.
Top activities:
A private tour of the city’s monuments and museums, including the cathedral, the 16th-century Castello di Lecce, as well as day trips to nearby towns such as Ostuni and Otranto, plus the beaches of the Salento region along the eastern shore and further south. A tour of the owner’s art collection, the M.A.M.A. museum, housed in a nearby space just up the block, is also a must. 
Where to Eat:
Breakfast in the garden is lovely—freshly baked pasticciotti filled with plum and custard, fresh local fruits and a perfect cappuccino. La Fiermontina serves traditional Apulian dishes at dinner, and there are several restaurants close by.

Palazzo Daniele

For the no-frills trendsetter

Best for: Art and design lovers and minimalists not expecting four-plus-star service or a prime location in an under-the-radar southern Puglia town.
Vibe:
Authentic, one-of-a-kind 18th-century palazzo-style property.
Rooms:
A Design Hotel with nine spare, design-focused suites—no two are alike—this is a sister property to the G-Rough hotel in Rome. Takeovers of the entire property are a possibility, and Indagare can help arrange them on a weekly basis for the right guests.
Location:
Near the southern tip of Puglia’s Salento region in a small, dusty town called Gagliano al Capo.
Keep in mind:
The 2,100-square-foot apartment suite with three bedrooms can also be taken over for longer stays. Other rooms are quirky and unique (one has a bathroom down a narrow stairway and feels a bit like a cave); several have frescoes on the ceilings and mosaic floors; it also showcases the owner’s art collection. 
Top activities:
There is a small pool and an upstairs bar and living room, but guests will likely want to head off property during the day to explore the area towns and beaches (and eat). There is also a contemporary art scene in the Salento and the hotel was formerly the family home of Francesco Petrucci, the founder of a local non-profit devoted to promoting contemporary art and artist residencies in the area.
Where to Eat:
There is not yet a restaurant on site. A local chef comes in to prepare light snacks and breakfast (or even lunches upon request) for guests. Beach clubs and Lo Scalo, a perfect seaside restaurant with a view, are just 10 minutes away by car.
Who Should Stay:
Art lovers and those in search of on-the-cusp, undiscovered places.
Contact Indagare for assistance in booking the hotels in Puglia  that are right for you.

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