Food & Wine: where to eat in Puglia, the gourmet restaurants and masserias every exclusive villa guest should know
Browse the article:
- Due Camini, Borgo Egnazia (Savelletri di Fasano): the Michelin star born from the earth
- EVO, Alberobello: olive oil, territory and very few covers in the home of the trulli
- Cibus, Ceglie Messapica: the custodian of Pugliese gastronomic memory
- Masseria Il Frantoio, Ostuni: women's kitchen, absolute zero mile
- Restaurant 700, Ostuni: contemporary Pugliese cuisine at the Paragon Hotel
- Primo Restaurant, Lecce: Italy's youngest Michelin-starred chef and contemporary Salento
Pugliese cuisine is among the richest and most authentic in the Mediterranean. Ingredients of absolute quality, a gastronomic tradition spanning centuries and, in recent years, a new generation of chefs who have elevated that tradition to a level of technique and research rarely seen in southern Italy. The result is a restaurant scene today that owes nothing to the historically more celebrated Italian regions: eleven Michelin stars spread across the Valle d'Itria, Salento and the Adriatic coast, and a density of gourmet addresses that makes every stay in Puglia a gastronomic journey as much as a holiday.
For those staying in an exclusive villa in Puglia, these restaurants are not simply where you go for dinner: they are standalone experiences, capable of becoming the most memorable moment of an entire trip. Here is the Raro Villas selection: six verified addresses, distributed across the areas where our villas are present, from the Fasano coast to Salento, by way of Ostuni and the Valle d'Itria.
Due Camini, Borgo Egnazia (Savelletri di Fasano): the Michelin star born from the earth
Inside Borgo Egnazia, one of the most exclusive and luxurious resorts in the region, chef Domingo Schingaro celebrates and elevates what is perhaps the most typical and original soul of Pugliese cuisine: the vegetable. Due Camini is the most representative starred restaurant on the northern Adriatic coast of Puglia, a short drive from Raro Villas properties in the Fasano and Carovigno area.
Schingaro works with local growers in search of heritage botanical varieties, building dishes that use each ingredient across multiple preparations, honouring every part and minimising waste. The best-known tasting menu, "La Memoria della Puglia," is a journey across the five provinces of the region on a single table. When the Michelin star arrived in 2018, the chef described it as a recognition that comes from the land itself, from the values of the Mediterranean.
Reservations are recommended at least 3-4 weeks in advance during July and August. The restaurant opens for dinner Tuesday to Saturday.
Read also:Puglia or Sardinia? How to choose the right destination for your exclusive villa holiday
EVO, Alberobello: olive oil, territory and very few covers in the home of the trulli
In the historic centre of Alberobello, behind the Basilica of the Santi Medici, one of the most personal and identity-driven gourmet addresses in the Valle d'Itria awaits. EVO is now a true institution in the world capital of trulli: chef Gianvito Matarrese elevates territorial cooking through a sustainable evolution, anchored in the kitchen garden and a wine list sourced exclusively from small Pugliese producers.
The name is not incidental: EVO stands for Evolution, but is also the Italian acronym for Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the ingredient that threads through every dish on the menu. Matarrese promotes 25 different cultivars across 40 producers and 240 bottle references, used both as cooking ingredients and served as direct tasting experiences at the table. The menu offers a lighter option at lunch with two courses and an olive oil tasting, or a five-course selection (€65) or a seven-course chef's choice (€75).
Covers are very few (sixteen in summer with the garden gazebo): reservation is mandatory and often required weeks in advance. For those staying in a villa in the Valle d'Itria, EVO is reachable in under ten minutes.
Cibus, Ceglie Messapica: the custodian of Pugliese gastronomic memory
In Ceglie Messapica, an inland town of the Brindisi province declared "City of Art and Land of Gastronomy," one of the most authentic addresses in all of Pugliese gastronomy awaits. Cibus is far more than a restaurant: it is a project of gastronomic memory, where every dish tells the authentic story of Puglia. The setting is the interior of an ancient fifteenth-century convent, all stone walls and aromas drifting from the cellars where cheeses age and artisan fermentations slowly mature.
The menu tells the true essence of tradition through exceptional local produce: beef tartare with stracciatella, warm cow's milk ricotta with toasted almonds, sagnapenta pasta with braised roll ragù, strong ricotta and fried breadcrumbs. Then the territory's meats: horse rolls in ragù, free-range veal at the grill and donkey stew in terracotta. It closes with traditional sweets including the famous biscotto cegliese and fig ice cream paired with San Marzano elisir.
Cibus is the address to choose when you want to understand what Pugliese cuisine was before it became an international trend. Open daily for lunch and dinner.
Masseria Il Frantoio, Ostuni: women's kitchen, absolute zero mile
Masseria Il Frantoio is one of the oldest masserias in Puglia, dating to 1500. Today it is a charming hotel and certified organic farm immersed in a timeless atmosphere, where culture and tradition meet research and contemporary quality. The restaurant welcomes external guests, and delivers one of the most distinctive gastronomic experiences in all of Puglia: not a starred chef, not a code-driven tasting menu, but something considerably rarer.
The kitchen is led by Rosalba, owner and self-taught restorer, who together with a team of local women produces simple, generous, balanced dishes based on certified organic ingredients (many of them Slow Food Presidia) grown and processed on the estate itself. Each dish is enhanced by the four extra-virgin olive oils produced from the masseria's centuries-old trees. The menu rotates across nearly 300 dishes according to season, and in summer the entire dining experience moves outdoors into the central courtyard: where, as one guest once said, "we are inside a painting."
For those staying at Raro Villas properties in Ostuni, Masseria Il Frantoio is reachable in under fifteen minutes. Reservation required.
Read also: Masseria weddings: the definitive guide to planning your perfect day in Puglia
Restaurant 700, Ostuni: contemporary Pugliese cuisine at the Paragon Hotel
For those seeking a high-level gourmet experience in the heart of Ostuni itself, with a modern setting and a carefully curated menu, Restaurant 700 inside the Paragon 700 Boutique Hotel & Spa is the right choice. Chef Pasquale Palermo leads the kitchen with creativity, celebrating local flavours from fresh burrata to beef bombette, with particular attention to seasonality and unique sensory experiences. The tasting menu pairs with selected wines, and the restaurant offers outdoor dining in its orange garden.
The register is contemporary but territorially rooted: dishes that start from canonical Pugliese ingredients (scallops, tomatoes, artichokes, Murgia lamb) and reinterpret them with modern technique and considered presentation. For guests arriving from an Ostuni villa, Restaurant 700 is one of the most immediate quality dining choices minutes from the White City.
Primo Restaurant, Lecce: Italy's youngest Michelin-starred chef and contemporary Salento
Primo Restaurant is where Solaika Marrocco, born in 1995 in Gallipoli, expresses her personality as a modern cook in dishes that are as beautiful to look at as they are to taste. Guests choose between a seven-course surprise menu, an eight-dish Pugliese tradition menu (often reimagined), and an à la carte selection of the restaurant's greatest hits since opening.
Self-taught, Solaika became the youngest member of the Associazione Ambasciatori del Gusto and the youngest Michelin-starred female chef in Italy, a record that still stands. The restaurant's iconic dishes include sweetbread glazed with orange and raw Gallipoli prawns, aubergine parmigiana with burnt wheat béchamel, and hand-cut tagliatella with octopus. The philosophy is clear: to create new memories of Puglia.
Fewer than twenty covers, a minimal setting in Lecce stone, reservations almost always necessary weeks in advance. For those staying in a Salento villa, Primo Restaurant is the essential gastronomic reference point for the region.
Puglia or Sardinia? How to choose the right destination for your exclusive villa holiday
Browse the article:
- Puglia: authenticity, culture and a landscape found nowhere else
- Sardinia: exclusivity, sea and international glamour
- The comparison that actually matters: when to choose one over the other
The question comes up often, and it is more complex than it looks. Puglia or Sardinia for your next villa holiday? Both destinations offer crystal-clear sea, prestigious properties and a quality of hospitality that is difficult to find elsewhere. But they are profoundly different experiences, and choosing the wrong one based on misaligned expectations is one of the most common mistakes made by high-end travellers.
This guide is not here to crown a winner. It is here to help you understand which of the two is the right choice for you: for the type of holiday you are looking for, for the group you are travelling with, and for the overall experience you want to build. With concrete proposals from Raro Villas in both destinations.
Puglia: authenticity, culture and a landscape found nowhere else
Puglia is not simply a beach destination. It is a territory with a powerful identity: trulli, masserias, thousand-year-old olive groves, whitewashed hill towns, authentic cuisine and a quality of light that transforms everything. Those who choose Puglia are rarely looking only for the sea: they are looking for an immersion in something that exists nowhere else, a connection with a landscape and a culture that resists the standardisation of mass tourism.
The key areas for a luxury villa holiday in Puglia are three. The Valle d'Itria, with its landscape of trulli, vineyards and historic masserias between Locorotondo, Alberobello and Cisternino, is the most sought-after area for those wanting an authentic countryside experience. Ostuni and its Adriatic hinterland offer the perfect combination of the White City's beauty, extra-virgin olive oil from historic mills and a clean sea just minutes away. The Salento, from Gallipoli to Otranto, is the choice for those who want to stay close to the sea with a more Mediterranean character and a quality summer social scene.
Among Raro Villas' Puglia properties, several stand out as dimore of absolute character:
- Masseria Lamagrotte: an 1800s masseria with 11 bedrooms, 21 beds and just 800 metres from the sea at Ostuni's Parco delle Dune Costiere, surrounded by centuries-old olive trees and dry stone walls. The ideal choice for large groups seeking an immersive experience in the Pugliese countryside.
- Villa il Frantoio: an exclusive property in Ostuni built over an ancient underground oil press, with 4 bedrooms, a suite, a massage room and 5 bathrooms. Traditional Pugliese architecture combined with refined contemporary interiors.
- Masseria Ceratonia: a Salento masseria a few minutes from the Gallipoli coast, with 7 suites, an infinity pool and 480 sqm of meticulously curated spaces.
- Villa Niraclò: a villa with both an indoor and outdoor pool between Carovigno and Ostuni, 6 bedrooms for 12 guests, ideal for extended groups who want full comfort and rapid sea access.
Read also:Masseria weddings: the definitive guide to planning your perfect day in Puglia
Sardinia: exclusivity, sea and international glamour
Sardinia plays in a different register. It is no less authentic, but its authenticity expresses itself differently: in the silence of Gallura's coves reachable only by boat, in the absolute quality of the water, in the Costa Smeralda and its cosmopolitan social scene, in villas with Tyrrhenian Sea views where sunset lasts a full hour.
Those who choose Sardinia for a luxury villa are typically looking for something specific: the finest sea in the Mediterranean, total privacy, and the appeal of a destination that the international jet set has chosen for decades for a very good reason. Porto Cervo, Portobello di Gallura and Porto Rafael are the areas where Raro Villas concentrates its Sardinian offering, all in the north of the island, all with privileged access to white sand beaches and crystal-clear water.
Among Raro Villas' Sardinia properties:
- Villa Pevero: an exclusive villa in Porto Cervo with pool and stunning sea views, 5 bedrooms for 10 guests, minutes from the beach and an 18-hole golf course. The choice for those who want to be in the heart of the Costa Smeralda with the full privacy of a private residence.
- Villa Vega: an exceptional property at Portobello di Gallura, two independent villas for 20 guests, with 24/7 security, pool, exclusive access to 3 km of coastline with white sand coves and on-request services (private chef, catamaran, transfers, luxury car hire).
- Villa Luce: an extraordinary Sardinian property with breathtaking sea views, 7 bedrooms and a light-bulb-shaped swimming pool. Two independent villas bookable together, ideal for large groups or families who want separate spaces sharing a common garden.
- Villa Le Vele: a luxurious two-storey villa in Arzachena, 2 km from Porto Cervo, with a private 1500 sqm garden, 9x13 pool and panoramic terrace. Sophisticated Sardinian atmosphere in a quiet and sunny residential setting.
Read also: Italy's most exclusive summer events 2026: music, art and lifestyle
The comparison that actually matters: when to choose one over the other
Neither destination is objectively superior. The right choice depends on a few concrete variables that are worth laying out clearly.
Choose Puglia if: you are looking for a deep cultural experience beyond the beach, you want a base from which to explore towns, masserias, markets and festivals (such as the Locus Festival), you are travelling with a diverse group that appreciates local gastronomy, or you are planning a private event such as a wedding or anniversary.
Choose Sardinia if: the sea is the absolute protagonist of your holiday and you want no compromises on water quality, you are looking for a more reserved and international atmosphere, you are interested in the exclusive social scene of the Costa Smeralda, or you want a villa with direct sea views and access to coves that are difficult to find anywhere else in Italy.
One practical element that is often overlooked: seasonality. Puglia offers excellent conditions from April through to late October, with milder temperatures outside the peak months. Sardinia gives its best between June and September, with July and August being the most in-demand period and, consequently, the one with the highest prices and most limited availability.
For both destinations, the most sought-after Raro Villas properties fill up well in advance. If you already have a time window in mind, the practical advice is to contact the team directly from the destination page to check availability and receive a proposal tailored to your travel profile.
August in Puglia without the crowds: how to experience an exclusive holiday beyond mass tourism
Browse the article:
- Beyond the Most Exposed Destinations: The Puglia That Remains Authentic
- Why Choose a Villa in Puglia in August
- The True Luxury: Avoiding, Not Chasing
- Between Sea and Countryside: The Balance That Transforms the Stay
- A New Way to Experience a Summer Holiday in Puglia
- When August Becomes Truly Livable
August has always been the most intense month for those choosing Puglia. The climate is ideal, the sea is at its best and the territory is full of energy.
Yet this very concentration can transform the experience: crowds, accelerated rhythms and difficulty in truly experiencing the place.
And still, there is another way to experience August in Puglia, more discreet, more balanced, more personal. It is not about avoiding the destination, but about choosing it with a different perspective.
Beyond the Most Exposed Destinations: The Puglia That Remains Authentic
The most well-known locations concentrate the majority of flows, yet the Apulian territory is far more extensive and diverse.
There are areas that, while close to the sea and to well-known centres, retain a more private dimension. Here, the rhythm changes, spaces open up and the experience becomes more fluid.
The difference lies not in the beauty of the place, but in the way it is experienced.
Why Choose a Villa in Puglia in August
In the busiest month of the year, the choice of accommodation becomes crucial.
A villa in Puglia allows you to create an independent dimension, away from the dynamics of mass tourism. It is not only about comfort, but about freedom.
The ability to manage your own time, decide when to move and when to pause, and enjoy spaces without forced sharing, these are the elements that truly make a difference, especially when the territory is at its peak.
The True Luxury: Avoiding, Not Chasing
An exclusive holiday in Puglia is not built by trying to access the most crowded places, but by learning how to avoid them.
This means shifting perspective. Not following the flow, but anticipating it or moving around it.
A few conscious choices allow you to experience the territory in a completely different way:
- choosing less conventional times for the sea and activities
- alternating between coast and inland areas
- prioritising local experiences over more exposed ones
- designing days without the need for constant movement
This is not a compromise, but a form of control over the experience.
Between Sea and Countryside: The Balance That Transforms the Stay
One of the most underestimated aspects is the relationship between coast and inland.
Puglia offers both dimensions, yet there is often a tendency to focus only on the sea. Integrating time in the inland areas allows for a slower rhythm and reveals a more authentic side of the region.
Villages, countryside, masserie and lesser-known routes create a natural balance, making the stay richer and less predictable.
A New Way to Experience a Summer Holiday in Puglia
Experiencing August in Puglia without crowds does not mean isolating yourself—it means selecting.
It means choosing what to do, when to do it and, above all, what to avoid. It is a more conscious approach, placing the personal experience at the centre rather than the destination itself.
In this context, a private villa becomes a point of balance: a place to return to, to slow down and to experience Puglia at your own pace.
When August Becomes Truly Livable
The difference does not lie in the month, but in how it is approached.
Even during the most intense period, it is possible to create an exclusive holiday made of space, silence and authentic moments. It simply requires a shift in perspective: from seeking the most popular places to choosing the best conditions to experience them.
And it is precisely in this freedom that August changes meaning, returning to what it should be: time to live, not to manage.