Hotel lo Scacciapensieri, near Lecce - Puglia hotels

Hotel lo Scacciapensieri, near Lecce

Set in the little Puglian town of Monteroni di Lecce, the Hotel Lo Scacciapensieri is newly opened, but is all about the traditions of the Italian Puglia region, its good home cooking and its friendly welcome. Rooms here, singles and doubles, have air conditioning, minibar, radio, safe, phone, television and bathroom with shower and bath. Rooms have a balcony.

This Puglia hotel has an excellent restaurant, which can seat up to 200 guests and is ideal for intimate dinners, buffets, meetings and business events. There is a bar and the front desk is open 24 hours a day, with staff on hand with advice on how to make the best of your time in this lovely part of southern Italy. This is the Salentine Peninsula, the very heel of Italy, with the Adriatic Sea on one coast and the Ionian on the other. Here you are never far away from a sandy beach, with rugged cliffs and rocky coves, old abandoned lookout towers (this part of Puglia was continually invaded from pre-Christian times to the Middle Age). There are superb historic towns to explore, including the Baroque marvel of Lecce itself, with churches and palazzi intricately carved in the soft sandstone of the region.

Head inland and you'll find an arid though beautiful landscape, perhaps more reminiscent of Greece than Italy. Here the prickly pear, carob and tobacco plant are native. There is the historic town of Otranto, and the rugged coastline down from Capo d'Otranto to Santa Maria di Leuca, with Albania and Greece visible on the horizon.

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Double room from €48