Conceived not as a conversion but as an entirely invented village, Borgo Egnazia was designed from the ground up by Pugliese architect Pino Brescia to feel as though it had always existed on this stretch of Itrian Valley coastline near Savelletri. Completed in 2010, the property takes its structural grammar directly from the masserie and medieval hill towns of southern Puglia — local pietra leccese limestone used throughout, the massing broken into interconnected low-rise blocks whose rooflines bristle with decorative chimneys and crenellations visible in the aerial views. Bougainvillea cascades over the pale stone parapets, while ancient olive groves press in from the perimeter, softening what might otherwise feel like a theme-park exercise in vernacular architecture into something genuinely atmospheric. The 63 rooms, 29 villas, and 92 masseria suites spread across the site with enough density to sustain the village fiction. Interiors by Ermanno Turco work entirely within a single tonal register — raw linen, undyed cotton, pale travertine floors, walls finished in rough plaster the colour of unbleached wool. Ceilings draped in gathered fabric soften each room into a kind of pavilion-within-a-room, while recessed niches carved directly into the stone walls hold ceramic vessels and dried botanicals in place of art. The restaurant runs beneath a sequence of barrel-vaulted arcades in the same limestone, tables dressed in white against the ancient-feeling stonework, wrought-iron candelabras and wicker baskets reinforcing the agrarian mood without tipping into rusticity. The pool terrace, edged in travertine, extends the palette outward toward the olive trees.

1hr drive from Bari (BRI) and Brindisi (BDS) airports

Borgo is the Italian word for village. Borgo Egnazia, a stroll from the Adriatic Sea on the fertile plains of Puglia, is a village of dreams hewn in the beautiful white Tufo stone of the region. If it had existed in ancient times it would have been the eighth wonder of the world! But although it looks as if time, sun, footsteps and sea breezes have weathered its facades, Borgo Egnazia is a 21st century creation that sparks the imagination with its characterful buttresses and the higgledy-piggledy layout of the casette around the central Piazza. You arrive at La Corte (the court), which sits like a manor house or Moorish Castle to the side of the village. It's a castle of troubadours and sanctuary though, not of battlements. Here are rooms where you can take your sojourn with us, descending the sweeping stairway to enjoy the bars, restaurants, terraces, spa and pools as well as the many secreted, gently lit bowers in a labyrinth of corridors that make it seem as if you had entered the Temple of Aphrodite! Alternatively you can choose to stay in one of the Borgo's casette, a deux or as a family of four, which nestle around two piazzas down bougainvillea- scented alleyways that you would swear had been there since the days of carts and horses. Larger families might prefer to take one of our 29 villas that fringe the village with their own plunge pools and shaded gardens, lush with oleander and rosemary. Borgo Egnazia is hard to describe. It's a place like nowhere else, with so much thought having gone into every detail. You have to come and experience it for yourself. What we have done is given glimpses about the many characteristics of the place. We hope you enjoy these. If they conjure in your mind the sense of a place rich in earthy provenance, splendid in its imagining and deeply restorative in its comforts and perfection, then our words will be doing some justice to the reality of Borgo Egnazia. Vair Spa Vair is emphasizing the role played by internal beauty, which illuminates each one of us and never deteriorates. We are introducing the results of a year's worth of research into an essential theme: The fulfillment of the psyche, that can be searched in a series of extraordinary treatments born precisely from this vision. Before choosing the best tailor-made spa itinerary, our guests often say they would like to feel happier after their treatments. This is why we suggest that you do not miss the life-changing treatments, which are carried out in the friendly and inviting atmosphere at Vair, the innovative and modern Mind & Body Spa surrounded by Puglia's natural beauty. We train every day to have the clearest attitude in welcoming you. The Training of the Spa Team has been extra-ordinary. Inspired and excellent teachers, all masters in their arts, left us tools and knowledge to enhance our methods for delivering committed Spa experiences in this changing world.