Puglia's flat, sun-baked farmland is scattered with masserie — fortified farmhouses built with limestone walls up to eight feet high, watchtowers and hidden underground chambers. They were designed to withstand invasion, and that solid construction is exactly why so many survive today. A growing number have been converted into boutique hotels, and one of the most talked-about is Masseria Trapana, near Lecce.
The backstory is a good one. Sydney hospitality man Rob Potter-Sanders had never set foot in Puglia before coming to scout the region. When he walked into the property's chapel and saw it was dedicated to Santa Barbara — his mother's name — he took it as a sign and bought the place, which had sat abandoned for more than 200 years. Despite never having renovated anything, not speaking Italian, and navigating southern Italian business culture as only the second foreigner to attempt a project of that scale, he spent two and a half years meticulously restoring it.
The result is nine suites plus one room, restored as close to original condition as possible and furnished minimally so the vaulted ceilings and honey-coloured limestone do the talking. The Sydney Suite, for example, has a four-poster bed, fireplace, an indoor/outdoor shower, and a private terrace with a stone tub.
The grounds are half the appeal. The chapel holds frescoes dating to the 6th century, uncovered during restoration work. The heated pool is carved into an old underground limestone olive press. Six gardens hold 19 varieties of fruit and nut trees — mostly mandarins, oranges and lemons — which end up in the cocktails served at sundown on a terrace that once doubled as a lookout against pirates and bandits. Food is rustic, home-made southern Italian. Guests have reportedly included Helen Mirren, who lives nearby and brings friends, along with Deborah-Lee Furness and Collette Dinnigan.
Location helps too: Lecce, with its 17th-century Baroque old town and plenty of restaurants, is about ten minutes away, so you can pair farmhouse quiet with city dining.
Potter-Sanders isn't stopping here. He's bought the surrounding land, which came with a second masseria he'll renovate into a seven-bedroom private villa with eight new gardens. His read on modern luxury travel: small hotels with attentive staff, where guests build real relationships, deliver a richer experience than any big resort. A night or two at Trapana makes a decent case for it.
For travellers, this is Puglia at its most characterful — history you can sleep in, within easy reach of Lecce's restaurants and the Salento coast. Cyclists will note the writer arrived while riding coast to coast, and the flat countryside around Lecce makes for easy riding between masserie and seaside towns.
