Palazzo Margherita

Palazzo Margherita

In Bernalda, the Basilicata town where Francis Ford Coppola's grandfather Agostino grew up, guests roll pasta by hand in the palazzo's kitchen, then eat it at a long table under a pomegranate tree while the wood-fired oven turns out pizza. Coppola bought this mid-19th-century villa in 2004 and spent six years restoring it with designer Jacques Grange, keeping the hand-painted fresco ceilings, one of them Cupid and Psyche, and relaying the original marble floors. Nine rooms and suites, no two alike, sleep up to twenty-three between them; several carry family names, Sofia, Roman, Gia, Francis, and Sofia Coppola herself chose the Km 0 toiletries and shaped Suite Four, with its chevron tiles, hammam and garden-facing terrace. That family hand, rather than a decorator's brief, is what separates this address from other Italian boutique hotels: the palazzo functions as a place the Coppolas return to, not a set dressed for guests. The garden is now protected by Italy's Cultural Heritage Department, and beyond the outdoor pool the days run on Aglianico tastings, a morning at a working masseria, and truffle hunting with a trained dog through oak woods, the haul shaved over eggs in a medieval cave. Matera's Sassi are under an hour away, the Ionian Coast fifteen minutes by car. None of this suits guests wanting a big anonymous resort; with nine rooms, everyone in the house is on nodding terms by the second night. It suits people who want to taste a region through its kitchen and know exactly whose family made the beds. Staff switch between English, Italian, Spanish, German and French, and guests leave with Bernalda no longer feeling like an unfamiliar name on a map. Palazzo Margherita is the Bernalda home Francis Ford Coppola restored in his grandfather's hometown, its nine rooms named for family and shaped by them, down to the toiletries Sofia Coppola chose. It suits travelers who want Basilicata's food, wine and truffles up close, not anyone after a big, anonymous resort.