Masseria Auraterrae

Masseria Auraterrae

Five kilometres inland from Polignano a Mare, Masseria Auraterrae stands among olive groves, a vegetable garden and a young vineyard, the stone walls of a farming settlement that once sheltered travelers on the road to Conversano, now reworked into a 22-room retreat. No two rooms match: six keep a private Turkish bath, three have a working fireplace, four open onto an outdoor tub, all built from natural materials in a spare, elegant style. The estate feeds its own restaurant, Ristorante Mare in Cielo, where Adriatic fish and vegetables from the biodynamic garden reach the table alongside the house's own IGP Bianco Puglia and Susumaniello Rosato, wines grown on the property rather than sourced elsewhere. A frescoed chapel dating to the 1800s and grounds running from a stand of secular olive trees to a panoramic pool facing the sea explain why the property also hosts weddings for up to 300 guests, so anyone chasing total quiet should check the calendar before a summer weekend. Elsewhere there's a sauna, massages, a gym, bike rental and hiking routes toward the Itria Valley, plus a second pool with hydromassage. Pets are welcome for a modest fee, and the hotel will arrange a transfer from Bari airport, though at 120 euros one way it's worth weighing against the on-site car rental. This is a countryside address rather than a beachfront one, the sea reached by a drive rather than a stroll, which suits travelers happy to trade shoreline for stone walls, a working vineyard and a kitchen that grows what it serves, more than it suits anyone who wants to fall out of bed onto sand. Masseria Auraterrae is a 22-room stone masseria outside Polignano a Mare, its own vineyard supplying the restaurant's wine and its chapel hosting weddings up to 300 guests. The beach is a drive away, not a walk, so this suits travelers after quiet and stone walls over sand.