Masseria Cimino

Mr & Mrs Smith have just returned from a trip to this boutique hotel in Puglia, and just as soon as they’ve unpacked their stash of olive oil, a full account of their stay in southern Italy will be with you. In the meantime, just to whet your wanderlust, here’s a swiftly penned postcard from Masseria Cimino…

Apart from the rich terracotta hue of the main farmhouse, everything at this renovated farm hotel in coastal Puglia is white. Whitewashed walls, white-painted furniture, white linen drapes – it’s as though someone has taken an 18th-century farmhouse and applied a dreamlike alabaster veneer throughout.
Antique pieces and quirky features such as prickly pear leaves on the walls, dried thistles in vases and artfully rusted farm tools nod towards the area’s rural heritage, and the smell of Pugliese farmhouse cooking wafts enticingly through the evening air. Although it’s managed with the professional slickness
of seasoned hoteliers (San Domenico House in London is a sister establishment), Masseria Cimino nevertheless feels like an authentic farm stay, albeit one where relaxing by the pool or sun-bathing in an olive grove are more on the agenda than toiling the fields…