Masseria San Domenico
By Adam Jacot de Boinod. Adam worked on the first series of the BBC panel game QI for Stephen Fry. He is a British author having written three books about unusual words with Penguin Press. He is the author of The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from around the World, published by Penguin Books.
Owned by the same family-run group as Masseria Le Carrube, Borgo Egnazia and Masseria Cimino, it’s five minutes from the shore and you enter it along the most dramatic of drives, a long avenue lined with fragrant jasmine bushes which frame ancient olive groves set in rich, fertile and vibrantly brown earth. My senses were engaged and visually enlivened.
The hotel attracts many for its ‘spa-talasso’ and neighbouring golf course. The spa makes full use of the benefits of seawater and there’s a sandy beach at La Fonte. It’s all perfect walking and cycling territory: flat yet scenic. The impressively vast outdoor swimming pool contains seawater at a natural temperature that works well with the rock formation in which it is partly set.
The hotel attracts many for its ‘spa-talasso’ and neighbouring golf course. The spa makes full use of the benefits of seawater and there’s a sandy beach at La Fonte. It’s all perfect walking and cycling territory: flat yet scenic. The impressively vast outdoor swimming pool contains seawater at a natural temperature that works well with the rock formation in which it is partly set.
The sandstone of the masseria is reminiscent of Corot’s ‘Avignon from the West’ in London’s National Gallery. I sensed the real glory of the masseria’s spaciousness from the different picturesque views from the bar, from the poolside restaurant and from the outdoor courtyard where breakfast was served. There’s a liberating sense of space both inside and out. Even at full capacity it felt like I had the place virtually to myself: quite a luxury for all of us with busy lives.
The main building was once employed by the Knights of Malta to ward off Ottoman attacks with its 16th century watchtower, now the private quarters of the owner Marisa Melpignano who realised her dream by acquiring it in 1980 as a holiday home then to invite friends before then recognising it for its greater hospitable potential.
The hotel is keen to promote the healthy benefits of the local produce: what they call the ‘Mediterranean Diet’. It’s a combination of all the food habits adopted in the region, characterised by the presence and cultivation of olive trees. It’s a triad of bread, oil and wine demonstrating a strong commitment to arboriculture. All produced by the labour of love, water and sunshine and all very bountiful.
The hotel is keen to promote the healthy benefits of the local produce: what they call the ‘Mediterranean Diet’. It’s a combination of all the food habits adopted in the region, characterised by the presence and cultivation of olive trees. It’s a triad of bread, oil and wine demonstrating a strong commitment to arboriculture. All produced by the labour of love, water and sunshine and all very bountiful.
The hotel’s spa promotes itself with Plato’s quotation that “the water of the sea washes away all of man’s pains and sorrows”. To the uninitiated there’s plenty to marvel at. The packages of 2-3 days, designed to promote wellbeing and happiness, offer scrubs and detoxing, oil wraps, jets and face masks with seawater and crushed seaweed providing their saline and mineral benefits. All highly restorative. All very balancing. But that’s not all! Do you know what any of the following are: adipocytes, lipogel or hydrokinesitherapy? Not to mention aparatology and gommage? Both manual techniques and high-tech beauty equipment make this a spa at the height of modernity, half scientific, half human intuition. Men get a look in too with ‘smooth and lift relaxation’ sessions, sports massages and olive oil wraps using the ancient local trees. Whatever technical terms you select I recommend the wrap!
Fact Box
Classic Collection Holidays (0800 047 1064; classic-collection.co.uk) offers 3 nights at Masseria San Domenico, Puglia from £1199 per person. Price based on 2 adults sharing a deluxe garden view room on a bed & breakfast basis and includes return flights from London Gatwick and private transfers.
Classic Collection Holidays (0800 047 1064; classic-collection.co.uk) offers 3 nights at Masseria San Domenico, Puglia from £1199 per person. Price based on 2 adults sharing a deluxe garden view room on a bed & breakfast basis and includes return flights from London Gatwick and private transfers.
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