Villa Itria

Easygoing Echoes of a Childhood Love

Combining its Italian owner’s homegrown love of Puglia with the design vision of a UK-based artist and creative consultant, this sundrenched villa puts easygoing luxuries and a laid-back life at its heart. A low-key home of pebbled pathways and shimmering pool, plush alfresco gathering spots and plenty of tranquil rooms, this villa for rent in Italy offers the perfect base from which to explore the region. 

Unfussy and serene, Villa Itria gently embraces visitors in simple, natural luxuries found in spare interiors, spacious outdoor terraces, food- and wellness-centered amenities, and muted, organic décor.

Villa Itria owner Luigi grew up in the family bakery near Bari, the thriving capital city of enchanting Puglia. He’s intimately familiar with the region’s charms, and to share the love, he’s created a habitation that is as light and breezy as a childhood summer day. A comfortable, contemporary retreat at the center of a small olive grove, this villa for rent in Italy was created in collaboration with Jared Green, a UK-based artist whose interior design firm specializes in expressing emotions in physical spaces.

Love is at the forefront here—love of life and an adoration of a simple lifestyle that is wholly uncontrived and deliciously easygoing. Rescued from the ravages of time and neglect, the villa was updated as a sanctuary of peace and soft beauty. Three bedrooms and two baths offer oases in neutral tones of sand and bone. Contemporary art and decorative furnishings dress up the organic, low-key living room, and loft-like windows flood the spaces with natural light. Textiles and furniture tend toward the natural and tactile, with stone, wood, and fibers as the dominant elements. 

A contemporary farmstead-styled kitchen opens onto both interior and exterior dining spaces, and an in-house gym/weight room complements the swimming pool and multiple outdoor living spaces for sunning, reading, resting or entertaining. 

EXPERIENCES

Luigi offers pasta-making and bread-baking workshops at an additional fee, and spa treatments, massages, yoga/pilates and personal training services are also available, as is a local concierge service. For a fee, breakfasts, massages, personal training, yoga, chef services, car hire and airport transfers can be arranged.

AROUND

Land of trulli homes and whitewashed villas, labyrinthine villages, crystalline waters and fragrant herbs, not to mention olive oil, fresh seafood and stellar garden-to-table gastronomy, Puglia is a dream vacation destination. 

Villa Itria is set on a private acre of terraced gardens, at the heart of a small olive grove where the largest trees shimmer with twinkle lights. It's located equidistant between the picturesque villages of Cisternino and Locorotondo, and the mythical white villages of Ostuni and Alberobello are also nearby. Each Puglian village offers sweet, storybook trulli and historical architecture, narrow, flower-filled streets and piazzi, and lively artisans, cafes, and boutiques. 

The well-heeled port villages of Polignano a Mare and Monopoli are a quick drive from the villa, and the closest beaches along the Adriatic Sea are less than 20 kilometers away, while the Ionian bay between Italy’s boot heel and toe is a bit further afield.

LOCATION

Puglia, Italy. Nearest airports: Brindisi (58km); Bari (84km)

BEST TIME TO VISIT: Spring through fall