The Italy coastline adored by the A-List (no, it’s not Amalfi)
The quietly spectacular coastline of Puglia in Italy is fast being snapped up by the big hotel groups. Anna Moloney spent a week exploring Italy’s heel
“It was a nightmare,” drawls Steven Risely, describing the four-year-long restoration process that led to the reopening of Castle Elvira, an 18th-century Puglian castle which lay abandoned for 100 years before he and his husband decided they could do with a project. With no thanks to Italian planning laws (a large part of the headache, says Riseley), the pair managed to restore the crumbling estate they found into a luxury boutique hotel, fitted with 10 guest suites, three pools and a rooftop terrace.
Steven’s husband, Harvey B Brown, an artist and filmmaker, may be away in London when I visit, but his presence is by no means gone, laced as it is into the castle’s very stonework. Case in point, hanging above Riseley as I check in, a pair of giant regal portraits look down on us. On the right a larger-than-life Riseley, blowing a kiss through a collage of sparkling glass beer bottles, and on the left Brown, tears of jewels dripping down to where we sit. Riseley gestures to the paintings, made by his husband, offhandedly as we speak, humble in a way that does not become someone sitting beneath a giant portrait of themself.
Riseley and Brown moved from east London to southern Italy with the intention of living in a different home they’d renovated, but thanks to a “joke” email from their estate agent about an abandoned castle on the market, the pair changed course. The property came with a tragic backstory; originally constructed in the late 1800s, the castle had been built by a Roman entrepreneur in honour of his own “princess”, his daughter Elvira. After moving in, however, Elvira tragically died, allegedly from accidentally picking poisonous mushrooms. So heartbroken was the father, the castle was shut up and abandoned.
When Riseley and Brown found it, they had to hack through the undergrowth Sleeping Beauty-style to get to the entrance, but they fell in love with what they found and, rather than seeing the story as a bad omen, decided to see it as representative of something beautiful, a father’s love. With the help of local artisan stone masons and iron workers, the pair restored the property complete with all the thrills you’d expect from a modern luxury hotel, but also with remarkable sympathy to the original construction; indeed, the pair remark of how much at odds they were with some of the workmen, who often privileged reconstruction over restoration. The result, combining the charm of the property’s history with the modern magic wand of our two east London kings, is nothing short of enchanting. Tables and chairs in pools, sofas and lamps on hilltops – walking around Castle Elvira is to have taken a trip down the rabbithole: we’re all mad here.
But despite the castle’s two undisputed monarchs, a stay at Elvira is designed to make you feel king of the castle. Service is princely, not only in standard but discretion. There are 23 staff for a maximum of 20 guests, but you don’t feel fussed over. Tech is seamlessly integrated into the property – TVs in the room are disguised as paintings and even the speaker on the rooftop terrace (open for sundowners every night) has been made to look like one of the castle’s dislodged stones. As well as a 24-hour front desk, guests are connected to the concierge via Whatsapp, meaning you can have the Elvira service even when not on the property. Finding ourselves in Lecce, a beautiful town just 20 minutes from the castle, we sent a message and Riseley and Brown sent over personalised suggestions for things to see and do.
With 37 acres to explore, you won’t struggle for your own space; it sounds a little ridiculous to say, and may be revealing of my own above-station notions, but I felt quite at home in the castle grounds.
There’s also a pretty restaurant on site, serving simple but traditional Puglian fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In another sign of wonderland, during breakfast I found myself presided over by a giant Cheshire grin of a bedazzled cat, Kate Beckinsale’s to be precise, who commissioned the giant portrait of her pet during her own stay at the castle – just one sign of the star class now flocking to the heel of Italy’s boot.
Over the last 10 years, Puglia has quickly climbed to become one of Italy’s most fashionable tourist destinations, championed in particular for its “authenticity”
Indeed, over the last 10 years, Puglia has quickly climbed to become one of Italy’s most fashionable tourist destinations, championed in particular for its “authenticity” – a term made particularly loaded by the overtourism now besetting places like the Amalfi and Tuscany. In 2014, the region saw a 20 per cent uptick in international arrivals, with guests drawn by the region’s varied coastlines (you have the choice of the Ionian coast for white sand and the Adriatic for grottos and rocky outcrops) and impressive UNESCO architecture. The coned-top trulli of Alberobello as well as the nearby breathtaking cliffside city Matera (made famous by James Bond’s turn in No Time To Die), for example, are popular tourist spots. With temperatures staying in the 20s throughout October, it’s also a perfect pick for shoulder season.
With Belmond and the Four Seasons plotting openings in the region, specifically around Ostuni, the region is becoming known for luxury too, though it retains the understated feel that’s made it beloved by celebs.
Perhaps the most instrumental development in the area has been Borgo Egnazia, a grand resort further up the coast known for its A-List pack: Madonna has held two birthday parties there, the Beckhams holiday there as a family and it was even the venue of choice for Justin Timberlake’s wedding to Jessica Biel. In an unlikely vibe shift, it was also the venue for last year’s G7 Summit – perhaps because, like the borgos of old, it is extremely well fortified.
The property is completely unique: modelled on a traditional ‘borgo’ (essentially a medieval Italian town), the hotel was built in 2010, but you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, with every detail made to look as if it had been there for hundreds of years. Rustic ladders, shabby (but chic) bicycles slung against worn brick walls and even a mock town square, the estate is vast enough to convince you you are in some strange village rather than a resort. Though not at any cost to facilities, amongst which you can find a traditional Puglian spa, four enormous pools and a beach club, accessible via the hotel’s 20-seater golf buggy shuttle, which comes every 20 minutes.
Which reminds me, one must-have in Puglia: a car! The region is sprawling, so a vehicle is essential. I rented mine through Indigo Car Hire. A Fiat500 is great for negotiating the smaller roads. Uber prices come in at over €100 for a 30-minute trip, so definitely don’t neglect this one.
Where Elvira is Lewis Carollian fantasy, Borgo Egnazia is a kind of quiet luxury Disneyland. The interiors are neutral and pristine, and everything has its place – quite literally. A member of staff shows me the underside of a basket of lemons, where a little dot on the ground pinpoints the exact place where it must be set. At night, the whole estate glows in candlelight. When I joke to the same staff member that I don’t envy whoever’s in charge of lighting those, she reassures me: candle-lighter is one person’s entire job.
The hotel boasts six restaurants, including one with a Michelin star, but I must pay my special respects to Il Cannucciato, the hotel’s open-air grill restaurant and home to the best steak I’ve ever tasted. The waiter will accompany you personally to the fridge to choose your cut, and the meat comes to your table accompanied by your own coal grill to give it the last sizzle.
You’re in easy reach of Monopoli and Polignano a Mare (with one of Italy’s most famous Instagram beaches) if you’re able to pull yourself away from the hotel. Lounged by the pool, where an eager attendant urgently shifted my parasol every time I needed a different angle of shading, I certainly was in no hurry to leave. Just beyond me, as I watched a cactus being painted with the table plan of a wedding, it was another taste of wonderland: curioser and curioser and completely, utterly fabulous.
Rooms at Castle Elvira start from £380 in October. Go to castleelvira.com; rooms at Borgo Egnazia start from £611. Book at borgoegnazia.com