Built by the Knights of Malta in the fifteenth century as a watchtower and fortified farmstead, the masseria that now houses Hotel San Domenico has spent more than five hundred years watching over the flat olive-studded plain between Fasano and the Adriatic. The whitewashed limestone facade — its distinctive pinnacled roofline, deep entrance arches, and oculus windows visible in the images — is pure Apulian vernacular, the local pietra leccese weathered to a warm cream that catches the afternoon light differently in every season. When the Melpignano family converted the estate into a hotel in 1996, the guiding instinct was restraint: to let a building of genuine historical weight carry the atmosphere rather than overlay it with decorative invention. The interiors work across two registers. Older rooms in the original masseria building feature barrel-vaulted ceilings, wrought-iron bedheads, dark-stained wood armoires, and kilim rugs laid over pale stone floors — furniture with the gathered, unhurried feeling of a well-kept Puglian country house. Newer villa accommodation steps toward a cleaner palette of ivory linen, upholstered headboards set into plastered recesses, and Lecce stone tiling that keeps the spaces cool and quiet. Down at the seafront, the beach club restaurant translates the same language into something almost Aegean — white-painted timber columns, gauze curtains moving in the sea breeze, glass-topped tables set with turquoise Murano-style glassware — the Adriatic sitting directly in the frame beyond.

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

Masseria San Domenico is situated 500 metres from the Adriatic Sea and housed in a whitewashed, XVth century watch-tower set against a backdrop of olive groves, orchards and Apulian seascapes. An impressive free-form seawater pool flows its way through the grounds and the 2 exclusive beaches (one sandy one rocky) allows guests to soak up some sun without the crowds. The SPA and Thalasso centre relies on the same salty seawater to fuel thalassotherapy and balneotherapy-focused offerings, in addition to providing a full menu of massages, facials and body treatments. The more actives can tee-off at the 18-hole golf course overlooking the Adriatic or burn off calories in the gym. To refuel, dinners don't get more romantic than at San Domenico Restaurant, with its 18th-century vaulted ceiling, or at La Nassa, a very fine dining seafood restaurant on the water edge. At the end of the day, elegantly furnished rooms and suites make a restful sanctuary with rich fabrics, colours and textures