Masseria San Domenico

The hotel describes San Domenico Golf as a course under the same ownership. It was designed by Andy Haggar of European Golf Design and shaped by Brian L. Jorgensen: a par 72 of more than 6,300 metres along the Savelletri coast, with the sea visible from every hole. The club warns that the wind changes sides from hole to hole; fast penncross greens with tricky slopes do the rest, while fairways are bermuda and the rough is fescue.

The course has hosted the Italian PGA Championship, the Campionato Maestri PGAI and the European Challenge Tour Grand Final, and it holds GEO sustainability certification.

Hotel guests pay the San Domenico Hotels rate: in 2026, 18 holes cost €65 to €105 depending on the season, instead of €95–150. Players need an EGA handicap of 36 or better. The Play & Stay package combines three nights, three dinners at the San Domenico restaurant, two green fees and a golf cart for two days; it runs in spring and October, with per-person prices listed on the hotel's website.

The core of the house is a 15th-century watchtower that belonged to the Knights of Malta, whose main base in Apulia was the nearby port of Santo Stefano. The tower still stands intact, machicolations and all, and the farm grew around it until the 18th century into one of the area's most important fortified masserie. It was restored and opened as a hotel in 1996.

The 40 rooms and suites are all non-smoking, with king-size beds and a pillow menu. Set apart in the garden, Il Villino is a 90 m² two-bedroom villa with its own heated pool. The policy is firm: only guests aged 14 and over are accepted.

The spa is built around thalassotherapy, with one- and three-day programmes and rituals using olive oil. The main pool is filled with brackish seawater and framed by natural rock; a second pool sits higher up in the olive grove.

An avenue of olive and palm trees leads to La Fonte, a white-sand beach. One kilometre away, served by shuttle, San Domenico a Mare has a rock platform above a small cove, four rooms on the water and La Nassa, a fish restaurant open for lunch from June to September. Back at the masseria, dinner is at the San Domenico restaurant: by the big stone fireplace in winter, beside the pool in summer.

The hotel is seasonal. The Michelin Guide lists it as closed from November to February, with a seven-night minimum in August. For golf, the best windows are those of the Play & Stay package: 7 April to 31 May and October. In autumn the hotel also offers four nights for the price of three, valid in 2026 from 8 October to 10 November.

• The massaro, the farm steward, lived here year-round to guard the harvest of 100 hectares of orchards and olive groves; some of those trees are now reflected in the rock pool.
• The four seaside rooms carry marine names: La Stella Marina, La Tartaruga, La Conchiglia and Octopus. Their beds are built of masonry and cannot be split.
• From the clubhouse of San Domenico Golf you can see the ruins of the ancient city of Egnathia.
• Martin Kaymer and Rafa Cabrera Bello are among the champions the club, founded at the wish of lawyer Sergio Melpignano, says it has welcomed.