Masseria del Gigante

We absolutely loved our stay here. The house and property were exceptional and the staff were very helpful and amazing. We would definitely stay here again!

Masseria del Gigante was stunning in every way. The location is beautiful and quiet - in the middle of olive fields - yet only 15 minutes to the coast. The house itself was absolutely gorgeous and Chiara (the host) and Ada (who made breakfast and cleaned) were lovel and helpful. This house was even nicer than the pictures showed -- it was perfect for us. Each bedroom has its own bath (two of the bedrooms are in a separate structure about 8 feet from the main house). The pool was gorgeous and the grounds were so well kept. Seriously, it was one of the nicest places we've ever stayed. We hope to stay again in the future!

Wish we had stayed longer!

Everything - it’s just perfect with high attentions to details

Nothing

Apart from the problem we had with use of the villa not being as sold (see below), we had a great stay. The villa is beautiful, with a high quality and modern fit out and narrow but lovely pool. The accommodation was cleaned meticulously daily by a lovely cleaning lady. The kitchen was well equipped and we appreciated the welcome basket of home grown veg. Beds were comfortable, and although we initially had an issue with being woken at 6:30am by the groundsman arriving, once we raised this it was quickly resolved and we had great sleep from then on. The setting is quiet and private, among olive groves. Although the immediate surroundings aren’t the nicest (wind farms and not the prettiest towns) it’s an easy drive to stunning locations like Lecce and Otranto and there are some great coastal spots too.

Unfortunately we have to warn guests there is a catch with this villa… We wouldn’t recommend booking without setting clear rules with the rental company first. Although we had booked the “Entire villa - 5 beds” on booking.com, when we arrived we were told we couldn’t use the entire villa. Apparently, due to our “smaller group size”, some of the bedrooms would be closed off during our stay. This was incorrect and against the booking.com terms, but when we communicated this the host argued it was “not the rate we had paid”. In the end we cooperated and agreed to have the fifth bedroom in an annex to be closed off during our stay. After our stay we raised this with the rental company to resolve it, however they did not agree they had done anything wrong. Fortunately booking.com did compensate us, as they agreed the villa breached their contract here. We hope this was a one-off and won’t happen again for other guests. We had such a great stay otherwise and the local staff were lovely.