Masseria Montenapoleone

Beautiful hotel in stunning grounds with lots of olive trees some over 1000years old and a vineyard. The hotel is made up of separate buildings within the grounds. Our room was lovely quite quirky with lots of unusual objects and up-cycled furniture. Large bedroom with a comfy bed and a sitting room. Outside was a seating area with a sofa a couple of chairs and coffee table with lots of beautiful flowers in pots. Breakfast was served inside or out again beautiful setting with fresh flowers lots of homemade fruits and produce on offer. It’s best to book the restaurant we had lunch once and a few dinners there. I found the menu was the same and being vegetarian not so much choice. I ask for something different and they obliged one of the evenings. The wine was good and they gave you breads and their own olive oil to try 1000yrs, 100yrs and a young one. All different and delicious. The hotel offers lots of activities pasta making, cooking courses and the spa has many treatments. We didn’t participate in any as we found them all to be quite expensive. Lovely pool area and you can walk around the grounds where the olive groves are.

While the property and aesthetic are charming and beautiful, this is a place to visit for an afternoon, but do not waste your money on a stay. It is the definition of “instagram culture” - perfectly curated for gorgeous photos while in reality the service is subpar, the food is bland and the cooking experience is misleading. The latter was the most disappointing. For 55 euro really what you get is a preparation experience, a glass of the house wine and a piece of focaccia. You don’t even prepare the foccacia, instead you simply sprinkle on some garnishes. Understood it takes a long time to make and it’s not possible but say as much in the description of the experience. This is followed by shaping some different types of pasta - just rolling some dough. You don’t get to actually make anything or taste the pasta. Fair that the logistics of doing so would be difficult but price this accordingly - at best worth 25-30 euro. You do not get to taste any actual pasta. You literally just get a piece of bread. The service is also completely lacking. I asked for help with reservations for local restaurants and they were not able to secure any for me. I was told Osteria Piazzette in Ostuni was unavailable all week and when I emailed myself I was able to get a reservation. Their list of recommended restaurants is subpar and catered for tourists. When I shared this feedback at checkout the most they were able to offer was a mediocre cloth apron we wore in the cooking close. For 1800 euro for 4 nights there are far superior places you can stay. Upon arrival, we were already dragging our bag halfway to our room over the gravel when we were asked if we needed help with our bags. For the price paid, this should have been a given. No problem doing so myself if I’m going into a rustic experience with a price that matches. But if you’re claiming to be a luxury hotel, then step up the services to reflect this claim . If you’re a mid range influencer with basic taste - this is the place for you. If you’re a seasoned traveler look elsewhere. The room comfortable enough and the breakfast staff is lovely and a redeeming part of the service.

Look elsewhere if you want a wonderful masseria experience. Very disappointing and the aperitif experience in the vineyard is extremely overpriced and poor. Our table was not cleared so a cat jumped on the table eating our leftovers. A very snooty woman(Alessandra) could see we were disgusted with this and she shrugged it off and said ‘is the cat annoying you’. When we mentioned this on check out the receptionist said there are lots of cats around the masseria and that we had finished our food so what was the problem. We also could not get the attention of any waiters to order a glass of wine while we observed other guests receiving complimentary olive oil from this same women, Alessandra. She was very rude and appeared to prefer guests who seemed of a certain standing. Our room was really far away just to be aware if you book a garden room. You are really in the garden!! I really would not recommend!!