Villa Casabella, a villa rental in Puglia

A Seductive Villa near Salento's Coastline

Spare and seductive, this historical property in Puglia’s Salento countryside envelops guests in minimalist spaces under vaulted ceilings, its traditional local materials injected with modern design elements.

Of the home’s four ensuite bedrooms, three offer queen-sized beds, and the fourth room is outfitted with a king bed. The designer spaces are pared down and serene, with pops of patterned tile, bone-neutral walls against exposed stone, and select art or statement antique pieces their only embellishment.

The vast exterior space offers a manicured green, with a shaded dining zone at the end of the sunny lap pool, a barbecue grill, and the property’s grand entrance marked by an entry fountain.

Around

Located on the outskirts of Galatone in Puglia, the property is within an area designated one of the “Authentic Villages of Italy." It overlooks the Ionian coast on the central/western part of the Salento peninsula some 24 kilometers from Lecce and even closer to Gallipoli. The region around Galatone is marked by its medieval agricultural fiefdoms, including Tabelle, Taelluccio, Fulcignano, San Cosma and Renda, and the villa itself is surrounded by olive groves and cultivated plots and crossed by the Asso River, an ancient stream that once brought the region’s water.

The beautiful towns of Nardò and Galatina are located just north of Galatone. The town and region have been occupied since the Neolithic era, falling under Byzantine rule and invaded by the Turks and the Venetians, history evident in its varied architecture and historical sites. Visitors can take in its 16th-century Collegiata, Baroque churches in pale Lecce stone, and its more ancient abbeys, their origins dating from the ninth to the 13th centuries. Galatone sits only 10-15 kilometers from the sea, and some of the region’s best beaches include Santa Maria al Bagno, Spiaggia di Santa Caterina, the Baia Verde, and the Spiaggias of Porto Cesareo and Torre Lapillo.