L'Olivida

Domed Beauty Takes Shape in Classic Puglia

The owners of this Puglian home put their creative talents to work personalizing one of the region’s iconic trullo structures and adding to it a new residence reminiscent of the Cyclades, with its brilliant whitewashing and domed topper. The compact spaces and multiple terraces are functional and pretty, brought to life by handmade, vintage and one-of-a-kind artisanal décor, a svelte lap pool, and a perennial butterfly garden.

Creating this traditionally inspired outpost in Puglia meant constructing a classic, thick-walled space as a new mate to an ancient trullo. Owned by branding and communications professionals with multinational backgrounds, the property is set within an expansive olive and almond grove, and feels at once sweetly vintage and comfortably modern.

The rooms in the trullo, and the open-concept kitchen and living spaces in the new building, feature vaulted or coved ceilings with molecular-model-inspired chandeliers set against the old stones and brick backdrops. The owners called upon a local woodworker and stonemason to create the villa’s shelving, bathroom vanities, closets, and generous kitchen island, stone dining table and built-in bench seating on the terrace.

Dark colors were applied to interior walls to provide a dramatic backdrop for the selected designer furnishings by Moroso, Saba, Gervasoni, Missoni and 101 Copenhagen. A varied collection of handmade vintage and flea market finds join local artisanal pieces and traditional agricultural items to make up the home’s highly personalized décor. Pillows and textiles add punch and texture, and some of the art is the work of the owner.

Outdoor living is vibrant and active, especially in the warmer months, when the pool, pergola and stone dining table greet alfresco diners. There’s a woodfired pizza oven, too—this is Italy, after all!—and even a small, private “cocktail pool” outside the trullo and a shower set in nature. There are abundant options for fireside evenings, with a courtyard fireplace, a barbecue grill, and a sculptural, contemporary periscope of a fireplace in the new living room.

In the extended garden, pebbled paths curve around beds of native grasses and flowering shrubs, fat pillar cacti and Opuntia laden with prickly pear stand guard over the pool, and hundreds of olive and almond trees stretch in the near distance.

Read a short history of the trullo in our Stories section here.

AROUND

Located outside of Ostuni, in the community of Contrada Donnagnora, this villa for rent in Italy is set in a sea of groves—almond, fig, olive and other fruit, in a picturesque rural area not far from the Adriatic Sea. The nearest beach is about 25 minutes’ drive away and the well-heeled port communities of Polignano a Mare and Monopoli are nearby. The home is a great base for exploring some of the region’s most charmed villages, including Cisternino, designated one of Italy’s most beautiful small towns, Alberobello, where 1,500 trulli homes have made the town a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the magical white city of Ostuni with its lively cafes, bars and postcard pretty streets.

LOCATION

Ostuni, Puglia, Italy. Nearest airports: Brindisi, Bari

BEST TIME TO VISIT: March to October