Casa a Corte

Style

Go for Baroque

Setting

Salento’s sleeping beauty

All the boxes of a Baroque-look tick list are checked at Casa a Corte, a stay as Apulian as they come. Spanning six centuries, this ornate home-from-home is one of the oldest in largely tourist-free Nardò. But it’s not peaked yet – thanks to owners Anne and Sylvain, the casa’s newest iteration continues to charm with coo-worthy original details (corner buttresses decorated with chubby cherubs, Neretini arches, patterned floor tiles, and exposed stone walls), modernist and contemporary touches (mid-century furnishings, integrated tech and dusty-pink plaster) and distinctly timeless pleasures, like lapping up Salento’s sun from the citrus-scented courtyard pool.

Facilities

Rooms

Five.

Checkout

10am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 4pm.

More Details

Rates don’t include breakfast (€20 a head).

Also

All common rooms and each of the Grand rooms are accessible for wheelchair users with large doors and roll-in showers.

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pet Friendly

Pool

At the Hotel

Private pool and courtyard, fully-equipped kitchen, beach towels, and free WiFi. In rooms: Bathrobes, free bottled water and organic Essentia Puglia amenities.

Our Favourite Rooms

No two rooms are the same at Casa a Corte, though we do have our favourites. The two Grand rooms have heaps of space. The Colonna room leads out to the courtyard, and boasts traditional Neretini arches, original columns and a strategically designed open bathroom with a curvy custom sink made from Tuscan marble. But it’s the Cappella room that tugs hardest on our heart strings with its polished-up, patterned floor tiles from the room’s time as a 16th-century chapel, as well as restored frescoes painted on the ceilings and a huge ensuite bathroom with a shower big enough for two.

Poolside

You’ll find the casa’s petite pool tucked away in a shaded, courtyard nook amid leafy plants and fragrant orange trees.

Spa

There’s no spa but owners Anne and Sylvain’s little black book full of local experts includes on-call massage therapists for in-house treatments and a fair share of Nardò’s fitness crowd, who can offer guests everything from cardio sessions and boxing lessons to tennis-court access.

Packing Tips

Bring a film camera for sun-bleached pool snaps, and leave plenty of space for bottles of Puglian olive oil, famed thanks to its intense flavour and high vitamin content.

Also

The town derives its name from the ancient Illyrian word for water. In fact, according to one legend, the town was formed on the very spot where – much like the tale of Hippocrene and Pegasus – a bull produced a well by striking the ground with its hoof.

Children

Welcome, extra beds can be added to Grand rooms at no additional charge and babysitting can be arranged from €15 an hour.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

Fetch the Bluetooth speakers and head to the courtyard for a seriously Salentini sundowner.

Dress Code

A casa, comfort is key; throw on a robe and get stuck in.

Hotel Restaurant

The fully-equipped kitchen offers you the freedom and flexibility to cook what you want, when you want. You’re in the perfect spot for it, too, with fishermen hauling in their fresh morning catch from Salento’s Ionian coast and local markets touting South Italy’s famously fresh fare – plum-size pomodori, soft and spongy melanzane and blood-red oranges (though depending on the season, you may well be able to pick yourself a couple from the courtyard’s orange tree). If you’re partial to a lie-in, Casa a Corte can deliver a bountiful breakfast of bread and pastries with butter, jams and honey, fresh seasonal fruits, regional cold cuts and cheese, fresh eggs, yoghurt, and cereal straight to your door.

Hotel Bar

Already polished off the welcome bottle of wine? Fear not, there’s plenty more nearby. For something local, grab some grapes to-go from your neighbours at Cantine Bonsegna, or else, Il Salumaio supermarket is just a short stroll away on Via Cavour.

Planes

Brindisi Airport is closest with a 50-minute journey time to the casa, though flights into Bari – just under two hours away – are more frequent. Casa a Corte can arrange transfers for up to nine people. It’s €85 a head from Brindisi and €170 from Bari, to be paid directly to the driver.

Trains

Nardò Citta is just over one kilometre away, with direct trains to Gallipoli, Lecce and beyond. Transfers from here will set you back €15 each way.

Automobiles

Public transport can be notoriously slow at this end of the boot, so wheels will allow you to speed things up when daytripping to whitewashed Ostuni, say, or coastal Otranto. Guests of Casa a Corte can park for free just up the road at the neighbouring Piazza Cesare Battisti.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

You’re unlikely to run into tourists in this little-known pocket of Puglia’s sun-drenched peninsula. As such, you’ll find that Nardò is less of a ‘doing’ place and more of a standing-still-with-your jaw-open place. Founded by the Messapians, conquered by Romans, ruled by a succession of Byzantines, Lombards and Normans, and finally the Spanish under the Kingdom of Aragon. Years spent at the crossroads of power have left their mark on the town in the most fascinating ways – from the Pizzica folk dance to the Greek-based local dialect. But first things first, grab a gelato and drift through the ancient, cobblestone streets until you arrive at Piazza Salandra, Nardò’s beating heart, where Baroque arches, ornate balconies, neoclassical colonnades and Rococo portals crowd around the 18th-century Guglia dell’Immacolata obelisk. Here, you’ll find Chiesa di San Trifone, a 19th-century church, built in gratitude of the titular martyr, revered for saving the peninsula from a plague of – wait for it – caterpillars. And then there’s Chiesa di San Domenico, Nardòs architectural jewel which adorned, inside and out, with Baroque decoration. Look to the side of the building and you’ll find the Fontana di Toro, which honours the mythic bull from whom Nardò is rumoured to have emerged. The wider province has a rugged kind of beauty, full of wild beaches, turquoise waters and acres of olive trees. Head to Porto Selvaggio to catch a glimpse of it in full swing, this protected oasis consists of a pristine coastal enclave where you can bathe in crystal-clear waters (often in total privacy), miles of pinewood parkland sprinkled with archeological ruins, three ancient towers (Torre dell’Alto, Torre dell’Inserraglio, Torre Uluzzo), and well-preserved fortified farms. The neighbouring beach towns of Santa Maria al Bagno and Santa Caterina are each home to lively little inlets; locals gather here during summer before retiring for a fresh seafood lunch at the likes of La Pergola or L'Art Nouveau (in Santa Maria) or Il Frescura (Santa Caterina). Back in town, splash some cash at Particolare, Nardò’s go-to boutique for ready-to-wear designer ensembles, or have Anne and Sylvain arrange a wine-tasting session or pasta-making class with a local nonna. And, if you happen to be around in July, don’t miss Circonauta, a three-day public programme which transforms this sleepy town into a high-octane fantasy with acrobats, jugglers, trapeze artists and clowns taking to the streets.

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