Castle Elvira

Style

Sleep-in beauty

Setting

Enchanted Puglian estate

Castle Elvira: the manor, the myth, the legend… Topped with crenellated turrets and surrounded by enchanted forest (and groves), this storybook 20th-century Puglian stay is rooted in tragic origins (as its folklore goes), but steered towards a bright future by Renaissance creative Harvey B-Brown and his partner. The decor certainly isn’t retiring – a mix of restored frescoes and floral-motif floor tiles, statement-yelling pieces (tufted velvet or circular bedframes, stone bath tubs, and Brown’s own artistic embellishments) – and nor are guests, who might be disco-ing in the pool, crafting their own portraiture, joining singalongs around the grand piano or calling on the mobile cocktail cart. Elvira is a beauty that only sleeps when she really needs to.

Facilities

Rooms

Nine set throughout the castle, cottage next door, and an 18th-century tower on the estate.

Checkout

11am, but flexible, subject to availability and a charge (€100 till 2pm, €250 till 7pm). Earliest check-in, 3pm.

More Details

Rates include breakfast and a welcome drink on arrival.

Also

So, you can’t smuggle some of the museum-piece vintage finds home from the hotel, but you can legitimately buy authentic artworks, artisan homewares, clothing and handicrafts. Or just tell staff your tastes and they’ll curate a selection of goods for you to browse.

Hotel Closed

The castle is open year-round, but can only be booked exclusively from November to April.

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pet Friendly

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

At the Hotel

Alfresco lounging terraces; solarium; 37 acres of parkland, groves and gardens; rooftop bar; sitting room with fireplaces and a 1902 Beckstein grand piano; dining room; boutique; free-to-borrow rickshaw bikes; hair-straighteners, plug adaptors and wireless charging pads to borrow; charged laundry service; concierge; free WiFi. If buying out the whole estate in winter, there's a kitchen guests can use. In rooms: rooms in the castle have underfloor heating and cooling, smart TVs in each bedroom (hidden behind a vintage mirror) and Ortigia bath products.

Our Favourite Rooms

Don’t make us choose. Each room here feels like turning the first page on a new story – or, perhaps more fittingly, putting that first brushstroke on canvas. Stories are hidden in the remnants of frescoes spread over vaulted ceilings, flowery floor tiles laid in the 20th century, and – more recently – the works co-owner, artist and filmmaker Harvey B-Brown has hung on the walls (including lavishly collaged famous faces, such as Cher and Bryan Ferry). We like the blue-leather bed and Matisse-esque portraiture in the King Suite, and the tufted velvets in the Prince and Princess suites; for privacy, vintage cinema signage and curio cabinet, book the Cottage. If you’re staying in the – slightly – more traditional 18th-century Tower Elvira (once a look-out post), the Tower Top Executive Suite has Rapunzel-esque romance (except you won’t try to leave), with its bath-tub-topped roof terrace, round bed and cathedral-esque ceilings. Whichever you choose, luxury is considered: beds have aloe vera-infused mattresses and Conran linens, TVs are cleverly concealed in mirrors, and bathrooms are stocked with Ortigia products. And, in low season, having the castle to yourself is a rare treasure.

Poolside

You have two pools to play in here, and we mean play – they’re heated year-round, and have Sonance sound-systems for submerged jams (plus ports if you want to plug in your own playlist) and staff to bring cocktails on demand. In the solarium pool, next to the main pool, there’s a Jacuzzi that can potentially fit all the castle’s guests (if you get to know each other that well), and wet discos and candlelit dinners are held in here – we mean in: the table and chairs are partially underwater. And those staying in Tower Elvira and the masseria will have their own pool to share too.

Spa

There’s no spa, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get a royal pampering. Just say the word and therapists and beauticians can be called on for a range of massages (shiatsu, hot-stone, Thai…), facials and body scrubs, or mani-pedis.

Packing Tips

Bring all that pent-up emotion to channel into drawing and painting classes here, and maybe a sketchpad, too.

Also

The castle might be vintage but it has a red-glass-lined elevator (dubbed the ‘Chanel-evator’) to take you to all floors.

Children

Castle Elvira might look like something from a fairytale, but it’s more of a bodice-ripper. Children aged four to 12 can stay, but on request only in The Cottage and Masseria Agave Suite, for an additional cost.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

The roof terrace might be the best in Puglia; heat haze gives an even more magical quality to the 360-degree greenery. And, it’s hard to beat turrets, but it’s rare that we get to dine in the pool.

Dress Code

Damsels, in swish dresses; knights, in shining Armani.

Hotel Restaurant

Is cucina povera still povera when it’s served in a castle? Not that it’s really considered poor man’s food anymore, but the restaurant gives it even more of a step up the ladder, using fresh herbs, citrus fruits, pomegranates and olives from the gardens, and putting her own spin on the classics. Expect beef strips in a spicy pepper sauce, pliant meatballs, comforting potato and onion tart, goat's cheese with a negroamaro rind and homemade apricot jam, and orecchiette in meaty ragus. On Tuesday and Friday evenings, the red-and-white-check tablecloths are spread and the wood-burning oven fired up for pizza nights with all-you-can-eat antipasti and desserts no less.

Hotel Bar

Warning: it’ll be hard to settle back into your local after you’ve experienced drinks on Castle Elvira’s roof terrace. Tables are set amid the four crenellated turrets and all around Puglia gives Tuscany a run for its money, offering dreamy rural vistas with a few more palm trees. Here you’ll try local wines, sip prosecco and see what the mixologist’s shaking, as a Sonance system plays background music (or a string quartet if you want something fancier). What could possibly be lovelier? Well, get this – the drinks will come to you. When happy hour hits (there’s no specific time, just whenever you’re thirsty), just call the staff and they’ll load up the vintage, three-wheeled Piaggio Ape-turned-mobile bar with spirits, fixings and mini umbrellas, then pootle over to wherever you are. Bellissima.

Last Orders

Breakfast runs from 8am till 11am, lunch from noon till 3pm, and dinner from 8pm till 10.30pm.

Room Service

In-room dining is available at certain times (on and off from 8am to 10.30pm) – it usually starts after breakfast, but if you really want that lie-in, the team is very accommodating.

Planes

Salento (AKA Brindisi) Airport, well connected across Europe, is the closest, around a 40-minute drive away from the hotel; transfers can be arranged from €70 one-way, for up to eight guests. Or you could fly into equally route-blessed Bari Airport, a two-hour drive away; transfers from here are from €195 each way.

Trains

Squinzano train station is just a 10-minute drive away from the castle. It’s a stop on the east-coast route that runs tip-to-heel of the boot from Milan in the north to Lecce in the south, with stops at Bari and Brindisi.

Automobiles

Sì, you’ll need a car – this is the territory of snapshot-ready satellite villages; that little trattoria you stumbled upon when you took a wrong turn, and will never forget; vineyards and groves and patchwork farmland that repeat like a cartoon backdrop… Do it right. The hotel has a free car park onsite (and valet parking on request).

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Castle Elvira’s crenellated turrets emerge from bursts of palms, cypress and the other enthusiastic verdure coating her country estate, interrupted only by a snaking driveway leading to St Elia Ridge, known locally as the ‘vale of health’ thanks to its fresh air. You can’t help to feel a little more pep in your step here, and you can use this to jog past olive trees and ancient smallholdings, wander the wild Italian woodlands, or borrow a rickshaw pedal-bike for zipping through citrus groves – the hotel can pack you a delicious picnic of Pugliese dishes and cakes on request (available from noon to 4pm; must be booked in the morning). And when you’re not in awe of Italy’s skill for sculpting a landscape, try pasta-making classes (where you’ll roll, shape and learn your flours); baking lessons; wine-tasting masterclasses, where you can divine your primitivo from your verdeca; and private cinema screenings, with classic and blockbuster movies, cartoons and TV shows, plus popcorn and snacks. Co-owner Harvey B-Brown is a hands-on host, too – the award-winning artist and filmmaker holds drawing, painting and life-drawing classes. And, for those serious about mining their creative talent, there’s the Adored & Adorned portrait-making experience, where you’ll work alongside B-Brown and his collaborator David Scheinmann, taking photographs and collecting mementoes which will then be embellished with paints, ink, digital finishes and collage to make spectacular self portraiture. For the less hands-on, simply admire works by B-Brown and Scheinmann, Adolfo Arenas Alonso and Michal Cole placed throughout the property. You could also tinkle the ivories on the sitting room’s 1902 Beckstein grand piano – guests have been known to gather round it of an eve – book a massage or join in whatever pool party is taking place; but Lecce, with its Baroque basilicas, cathedrals and churches makes an easy day-trip at just a 20-minute drive away.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .