Agriturismo in Puglia with Spa, Riding

Farm stays in Puglia often mean a masseria — the fortified farmstead of the southern plains, built around a courtyard with thick whitewashed walls that once protected livestock and grain. Many still work as olive and vegetable farms, and the region produces a large share of Italy's olive oil.

Choosing your part of the region

The Valle d'Itria, between Alberobello, Locorotondo and Ostuni, is the most popular: dry-stone walls, trulli with conical roofs, and hilltop towns twenty minutes from either coast. The Salento, at the very heel, has the clearest water and the liveliest summer, with Lecce and its baroque centre inland. The Gargano promontory in the north is different again — forest, cliffs and the Tremiti islands offshore. Around Foggia the land opens into wheat plains, where farms are larger and cheaper.

What a masseria stay is like

• Extra virgin olive oil pressed on the property, from groves that can be centuries old
• Burrata, mozzarella and ricotta made on site at dairy farms, often in the morning
• Courtyard architecture that keeps interiors cool without heavy air conditioning
• Pools are common, and many farms sit within fifteen minutes of a beach
• Vegetable-led cooking: orecchiette with turnip tops, fava purée, chicory

Timing and getting there

June and September are the sweet spot: the sea is warm, the heat is bearable, and rates sit well below August. July and August are genuinely hot and the coast fills with Italian holidaymakers, so inland masserie offer better value. Spring is green and mild but the sea is still cold. The olive harvest runs from late October into December.

Bari and Brindisi both have airports with direct European connections, and the fast train from Rome to Bari takes around four hours. Distances within Puglia are longer than they look — Gargano to Salento is a four-hour drive — so pick one area rather than trying to cover the region from a single base.

In Puglia we have 230 farmhouses, including 125 with swimming pool, 135 with restaurant and 112 pet friendly.