Casa Piana
Casa Piana
house
40.179600
18.033000
A two-bedroom house in the old centre of Nardò, designed by Studio Palomba Serafini, with a rooftop terrace — sleeps four, let whole.
https://www.missingcollection.com/en/properties/casa-piana
Casa Soleto
Casa Soleto
house
40.187700
18.207400
A 17th-century palazzotto in the old centre of Soleto, in the Grecìa Salentina, restored by Andrew Trotter and Marcelo Martínez — vaults, original floors and a travertine pool in the courtyard. Four bedrooms, let whole.
https://www.instagram.com/casa.soleto/
Casa Caroseno Conversano
Casa Caroseno
house
40.930000
17.140000
A 1950s farmhouse between Conversano and Castellana, restored by Opus Atelier — plaster, arches and a pool, for up to four, let whole.
https://www.instagram.com/casacaroseno/
Trullo Sant'Anna Ceglie Messapica
Trullo Sant'Anna
house
40.655000
17.505000
A trullo and lamia in the countryside of Ceglie Messapica, among fruit trees — restored with rural simplicity and let whole.
https://www.instagram.com/trullosantanna/
Nardòsalento Nardò
Nardòsalento
house
40.178000
18.033000
A small collection of boutique holiday houses in the old town of Nardò, each let whole.
https://www.nardosalento.com
Masseria Belvedere Carovigno
Masseria Belvedere
house
40.712000
17.650000
A masseria above Carovigno with a view to the sea, designed by Valari — eight en-suite bedrooms and an infinity pool, let whole.
https://www.masseriabelvederecarovigno.com
Palazzo Nianu Neviano
Palazzo Nianu
house
40.107722
18.114025
A 19th-century palazzo in the old centre of Neviano, in the Salento hinterland, let whole.
https://www.palazzonianu.com
Terra Quieta Ostuni
Terra Quieta
house
40.722000
17.595000
A villa with trulli and a pool in the valley below Ostuni — four bedrooms, let whole.
https://www.instagram.com/terraquieta/
Casa Boccadoro Ostuni
Casa Boccadoro
house
40.720000
17.560000
A three-bedroom house in a hectare of olive grove outside Ostuni, with a private pool, let whole.
https://casaboccadoro.wixsite.com/casaboccadoro
Casa Roverella Ostuni
Casa Roverella
house
40.742000
17.590000
A modern country home between Ostuni and the sea, let whole.
https://www.casaroverella.it
Villa Amuree Ostuni
Villa Amuree'
house
40.738000
17.565000
A private villa in the countryside around Ostuni, let whole.
https://www.amureeapulia.com
Palazzo Coppola Matino
Palazzo Coppola
house
40.032510
18.133853
A restored townhouse in the old centre of Matino, around a reopened courtyard with a vast roof terrace — three bedrooms, let whole.
https://www.palazzo-coppola.com
Palazzo Ventidue Nardò
Palazzo Ventidue
house
40.179217
18.031033
A restored palazzo in the car-free centre of Nardò, with coloured vaults and a 150 m² terrace — three bedrooms, let whole.
https://palazzoventidue.com
Cala dell'Acquaviva
Acquaviva
beach
39.9915024
18.4139274
A narrow inlet near Marittima where freshwater springs rise from the rock and keep the water noticeably colder than the open sea.
Costa Ripagnola
Ripagnola
beach
41.0289417
17.1709723
A protected strip of low cliffs north of Polignano, with small coves cut into the rock and nothing built on it.
Torre Cintola
Torre Cintola
beach
40.9151791
17.3437625
Rock shelves below Dante Bini's 1970s concrete domes at Capitolo, south of Monopoli. Deep water straight off the ledge.
Trullo Luceri
Trullo Luceri
house
40.6759925
17.5703979
A trullo and a lamia in the countryside between Ostuni and Ceglie, pared back by Opus Atelier, with a small pool. Two bedrooms, let whole.
https://www.trulloluceri.com/trullo
Masseria Palaci
Masseria Palaci
house
39.8630212
18.2394971
A fortified seventeenth-century masseria in the olive groves outside Salve, a few kilometres from the sandy beaches of the southern Salento. Nine bedrooms, let whole by the week.
https://www.masseriapalaci.com/
Palazzo Penelope
Palazzo Penelope
house
40.996300
17.219300
A townhouse on the cliffs of Polignano, looking across at Grotta Palazzese. Four bedrooms, let whole by the week.
https://www.palazzopenelope.com/
Masseria Schiuma
Masseria Schiuma
house
40.890772
17.363295
An old farmhouse in the countryside between Monopoli and Savelletri, vaulted tuff ceilings and six bedrooms, let whole by the week.
https://masseriaschiuma.com/
Masseria Cervarolo
Cervarolo
restaurant
40.7091344
17.5036371
Dinner among the olive trees of a restored masseria in the countryside south-west of Ostuni — Apulian produce, cooked with a lighter hand.
https://www.instagram.com/masseriacervarolo_ristorante/
Primo
Primo
restaurant
40.3525353
18.1775996
Solaika Marrocco's Michelin-starred room in Lecce — personal, modern takes on Salento tradition.
Farmacia dei Sani
Farmacia dei Sani
restaurant
39.9849972
18.2478018
A restaurant in an old village pharmacy on the piazza of Torrepaduli, Ruffano — deep in the southern Salento.
L'Altro Baffo
L'Altro Baffo
restaurant
40.1450069
18.4915122
Fish-led cooking tucked into Otranto's old town, on Via Cenobio Basiliano.
Sinòdia
Sinòdia
restaurant
40.1596506
18.2571863
Samuele Toma's lively Mediterranean cooking in an underground olive mill from 1350, in the Grecìa Salentina.
Baby Dicecca
Baby Dicecca
site
40.8800635
16.6968914
A cheese experience, booked ahead: master cheesemaker Vito Dicecca hosts tastings in a wooden cabin in the Mercadante forest above Cassano delle Murge — his cheeses and pasta filata, with wine from the Murge. Longer private sessions run at the family dairy in Altamura.
https://vitodicecca.it/it/book-appointment/
Porto Franco
Porto Franco
restaurant
41.1642436
16.7526402
Seafood on the little harbour of Santo Spirito, on Bari's northern shore.
Quintessenza
Quintessenza
restaurant
41.2814698
16.4147225
Stefano Di Gennaro's Michelin-starred kitchen in Trani — Apulian produce, Italian tradition, flavour before fuss.
Rosticceria L'Antico Borgo
Antico Borgo
restaurant
40.7418109
17.4266721
Menga Piero's fornello pronto on Cisternino's main square — pick your meat at the counter, they grill it while you wait.
Giardini 36
Giardini 36
restaurant
40.7388154
17.4303895
A garden restaurant in Cisternino on Via Cerasino, for long evenings outdoors in the Valle d'Itria.
Bros'
Bros'
restaurant
40.6860000
17.3330000
The Pellegrino brothers' creative fine-dining room at Relais Villa San Martino, just outside Martina Franca.
https://www.brosworld.it/en/
Acquasanta Dispensa e Vino
Acquasanta
restaurant
40.7328741
17.5785974
A small dispensa and natural-wine bar in Ostuni's old town — local, seasonal plates and bottles from low-intervention growers.
Mariella
Mariella
restaurant
40.3521500
18.1832000
Specialty coffee and pastries by day, natural wine and seasonal small plates by night, near Piazza Mazzini in Lecce.
https://www.instagram.com/mariella.lecce/
Sponda
Sponda
restaurant
40.7303105
17.5794720
A specialty coffee bar on Via Nicotera in Ostuni — espresso, filter and cold brew, breakfast and lunch. Closed Tuesdays.
https://europeancoffeetrip.com/cafe/sponda-ostuni/
Putignano
Putignano
site
40.8492021
17.1226371
A medieval town on the Murgia edge, best known for southern Italy's oldest carnival, running since 1394.
Cucina Villana
Cucina Villana
restaurant
41.138626
16.486386
The Montaruli brothers' etnobotanica kitchen at Villa Fenicia, above Ruvo di Puglia on the edge of the Murgia.
https://www.villafenicia.com
Trattoria La Luna nel Pozzo
La Luna nel Pozzo
restaurant
40.532178
17.428753
Cucina povera in the ceramics town of Grottaglie — handmade pasta, and the wild greens the kitchen buys that morning.
Cave di Bauxite
Cave di Bauxite
site
40.132291
18.499792
A disused bauxite quarry south of Otranto: red earth around a green pool. Not a beach and not swimmable — go for the colour, early or late.
Acaya
Acaya
site
40.333524
18.295866
A fortified town laid out from nothing in 1535 on a grid, with its castle and walls — one of the few Renaissance planned towns in the south, and still tiny.
Fondazione Biscozzi | Rimbaud
Biscozzi | Rimbaud
site
40.356457
18.170180
A private collection of twentieth-century Italian art, opened to the public in a Lecce palazzo in 2021. Small, serious, and almost empty on a weekday.
https://www.fondazionebiscozzirimbaud.it/
Ceramiche Enza Fasano
Enza Fasano
shop
40.532846
17.431078
A ceramics workshop on Via Crispi in the Grottaglie kiln quarter — one of the houses that carried the town's craft into the present.
Fondazione Museo Pino Pascali
Museo Pino Pascali
site
40.994019
17.228686
Polignano's old slaughterhouse on the sea, now a contemporary art museum built around Pino Pascali, the Arte Povera sculptor who was born here.
https://www.museopinopascali.it/
Vincent City
Vincent City
site
40.393499
17.939531
A house-museum on the road outside Guagnano — twenty ceramic and mosaic works by Orodè Deoro, built as a monument to a local artist and to nothing else.
Torre Cintola — the Bini domes
The Bini Domes
site
40.915179
17.343763
Concrete domes on the Capitolo coast at Monopoli, raised with air in the 1970s by Dante Bini's Binishell method — a holiday village that looks like nothing else on this coast.
Concattedrale Gran Madre di Dio
Gio Ponti's Cathedral
site
40.461827
17.270381
Gio Ponti's concrete sail in Taranto, finished in 1970 — a pierced façade standing in water, meant to be read against the sky. Twenty minutes west of Grottaglie.
Già Sotto l'Arco
Già Sotto l'Arco
restaurant
40.706981
17.658881
A Michelin star on the first floor of a palazzo in Carovigno — Salento cooking, formal without being stiff. Book ahead.
https://www.giasottolarco.it/
Punta Ristola
Punta Ristola
beach
39.789594
18.345887
The southernmost point of the heel, west of Leuca — rock platforms, sea caves by boat, and the line where the two seas meet.
Il Ciolo
Il Ciolo
beach
39.844206
18.386058
A fjord-like cut under a road bridge near Gagliano del Capo. Deep water, no sand, and people jumping from the rocks.
Punta della Suina
Punta della Suina
beach
40.002770
18.013334
Rock shelves and small sand pockets in the pines south of Gallipoli, facing the sunset.
Lama Monachile
Lama Monachile
beach
40.993252
17.213855
The pebble inlet at the foot of Polignano's old town, under the Roman bridge. Best at eight in the morning.
Porto Ghiacciolo
Porto Ghiacciolo
beach
40.929671
17.331000
A small cove below the abbey of Santo Stefano, south of Monopoli: sand, rock ledges, deep water a few strokes out.
Lido Morelli
Lido Morelli
beach
40.810914
17.523349
Soft sand between Pilone and Torre Canne — the easiest swim on the Ostuni coast for a long afternoon.
Torre Pozzelle
Torre Pozzelle
beach
40.771534
17.662072
A string of small sand coves under a Saracen tower on the Ostuni coast, reached by a track through the scrub.
Burro Cafè
Burro Cafè
restaurant
40.732299
17.576537
A specialty coffee bar on Corso Mazzini in Ostuni — breakfast, pastries and an aperitivo hour.
https://www.instagram.com/burro_cafe/
Palazzo San Vito
Palazzo San Vito
house
40.306400
18.139700
A restored palazzo in the centre of Lequile, four kilometres from Lecce, let whole with a pool and an orange grove.
https://www.palazzosanvito.it
Casale Madre
Casale Madre
house
40.671174
17.607635
A house in the country south of Ostuni.
https://casalemadre.com/
Castro
Castro
site
40.0070220
18.4257330
A small town on the Adriatic cliffs above its harbour.
Marina Serra
Marina Serra
beach
39.9130123
18.3921160
A natural rock pool below Tricase, cut into the shelf and filled by the sea. Fills after eleven, empties again at six.
Porto Cesareo
Porto Cesareo
site
40.2628240
17.8984180
Shallow, very clear water and a marine reserve on the Ionian side.
Santa Maria al Bagno
Santa Maria al Bagno
site
40.1296826
17.9982173
A small resort on the Ionian below Nardo.
Porto Selvaggio
Porto Selvaggio
beach
40.1780399
17.9427063
Four hundred hectares of pine and rock between two watchtowers, with no road in — the pebble bay is a twenty-minute walk. Cold springs surface offshore and keep the water clear.
Grotta Zinzulusa
Zinzulusa
site
40.0119161
18.4312104
A sea cave below Castro, best reached from the water.
Torre Sant'Andrea
Torre Sant'Andrea
beach
40.2552764
18.4450163
Sea stacks and arches standing just off the shore south of Torre dell'Orso. Swim out between them.
Torre dell'Orso
Torre dell'Orso
site
40.2745056
18.4301456
A long bay under a watchtower on the Adriatic coast.
Grotta della Poesia
Grotta della Poesia
beach
40.2857580
18.4297873
A collapsed limestone pool open to the sea at Roca Vecchia. Early morning, or not at all in August.
Porto Badisco
Porto Badisco
beach
40.0801185
18.4833742
A horseshoe cove south of Otranto where Virgil has Aeneas come ashore. Clear, deep, small.
Baia dei Turchi
Baia dei Turchi
beach
40.1951536
18.4629536
Pines running down to pale sand north of Otranto. The walk in from the car park keeps it calm; full in season.
Trattoria Iolanda
Iolanda
restaurant
39.9334674
18.3203645
The Iolanda family has been cooking in Lucugnano since 1970.
Taverna del Porto
Taverna del Porto
restaurant
39.9300874
18.3943400
On the quay at Tricase Porto, where the boats come in.
Piccola Osteria
Piccola Osteria
restaurant
40.3964109
18.0183291
Paolo Metrangolo's kitchen in Campi Salentina.
Le Stanzie
Le Stanzie
restaurant
40.0400229
18.2156317
A historic masseria with one fixed menu. Book well ahead.
https://www.lestanzie.com/
Ristorante La Vinaigrette
La Vinaigrette
restaurant
40.0532012
17.9771859
A terrace above the Ionian in Gallipoli.
https://lavinaigrette.it
Trattoria La Puritate
La Puritate
restaurant
40.0546937
17.9757850
Against the sea walls of Gallipoli.
Antica Trattoria Salandra
Salandra
restaurant
40.1795207
18.0310622
In an alley behind Piazza Salandra in Nardo.
Osteria da Angiulino
Da Angiulino
restaurant
40.3563085
18.1706510
Feeding Lecce since the 1970s.
Le Zie - Trattoria Casereccia
Le Zie
restaurant
40.3573150
18.1749670
You ring the bell to be let in, and eat what the family would eat.
Caffe Alvino
Alvino
restaurant
40.3528290
18.1731169
On Piazza Sant'Oronzo: rustico, pasticciotto, and caffe leccese with almond milk.
http://caffealvino.it/
Faro di Punta Palascia
Punta Palascia
site
40.1074454
18.5199872
The easternmost point of Italy, where the Adriatic meets the Ionian.
Teatro Paisiello
Teatro Paisiello
site
40.3555815
18.1687958
A pistachio-green nineteenth-century theatre in the centre of Lecce.
Basilica di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria
Santa Caterina
site
40.1728396
18.1722558
A plain facade over an interior frescoed from floor to vault, every surface painted.
https://www.basilicaorsiniana.it/
Santa Maria di Leuca
Leuca
site
39.7967494
18.3544897
The southern tip, where the two seas are said to meet.
Tricase
Tricase
site
39.9304200
18.3553320
A town inland and a small port below it, on the Adriatic side of the heel.
Galatina
Galatina
site
40.1742781
18.1678388
Where the tarantism tradition was kept alive, and where Santa Caterina is.
Nardo
Nardo
site
40.1762608
18.0306371
Baroque without the crowds of Lecce, twenty minutes from the Ionian coast.
Gallipoli
Gallipoli
site
40.0546937
17.9757850
The old town sits on an island off the Ionian shore, joined to the new one by a bridge.
Otranto
Otranto
site
40.1456661
18.4907570
The Aragonese castle above the harbour, and a twelfth-century mosaic covering the whole floor of the cathedral.
Lecce
Lecce
site
40.3529000
18.1720000
Over forty baroque churches in soft golden stone, and a Roman amphitheatre in the main square.
Scavi di Egnazia
Egnazia
site
40.8858560
17.3873640
A Messapian and Roman town excavated on the coast, with the Via Traiana running through it.
Masseria Torre Coccaro
Torre Coccaro
restaurant
40.8730304
17.4089613
Aperitivo in the courtyard of the masseria, with the Tulsi shop next door.
Sonmarco
Sonmarco
shop
40.7071852
17.6568480
Marco Lanzilotti's enoteca and organic greengrocer in Carovigno.
Il Panino di Marino
Panino di Marino
shop
40.7933540
17.1234250
Marino makes the sandwiches, and Marino is half the reason to come.
Cibus
Cibus
restaurant
40.6463723
17.5184243
In a fifteenth-century convent in Ceglie Messapica.
http://www.ristorantecibus.it/
Osteria da Giuseppe
Da Giuseppe
restaurant
40.6468273
17.5152608
The menu changes every day.
Ristorante Garibaldi
Garibaldi
restaurant
40.7056224
17.3362575
On Piazza Plebiscito, facing the cathedral of Martina Franca.
Trattoria delle Ruote
Delle Ruote
restaurant
40.6892120
17.3848280
Third generation, with the Valle d'Itria spread out below the terrace.
Trattoria Bere Vecchie
Bere Vecchie
restaurant
40.7416562
17.4262465
A butcher's counter with tables, and the bombette Cisternino is known for.
Pizzeria Casa Pinto
Casa Pinto
restaurant
40.7524030
17.3291240
A wood oven in the centre of Locorotondo.
Trattoria Terra Madre
Terra Madre
restaurant
40.7872754
17.2351608
Inside a group of trulli, with its own vegetable garden supplying the kitchen.
https://www.trattoriaterramadre.it/
Il Principe del Mare
Principe del Mare
restaurant
40.8537480
17.4459810
At the waterline in Savelletri. Raw, and fried.
Panificio L'Assunta
L'Assunta
shop
40.8919500
17.3293480
Tavola calda to take away: focaccia, panzerotti, whatever is out of the oven.
