macdogmom

I can't begin to express how helpful and wonderful it was to find these messages boards 5 or 6 years ago. In the last 2 weeks I have learned so much about Puglia from your responses and reading trip reports. So, I have evolved from renting a house, to staying in Ostuni, then back to the countryside but in an hotel. I need my coffee and breakfast made by someone else each morning! We will probably stay in Matera for 2 nights and then stay in one of these places 3-4 nights. Thanks for any feedback.

So these are the places I'm deciding between-
Masseria Iazzo Scagno
http://www.masseriaiazzoscagno.it/en/
This is cheapest by about 1/3.

Masseria Fumarola
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...to_Puglia.html
Upscale

Il Frontaio
http://mobile.masseriailfrantoio.it/
Food is supposed to wonderful.

yestravel

I can so relate to all your changing. Puglia has an abundance of wonderful places from which to choose to stay. All 3 of your selections look very nice. I think I considered Il Frantoio and don't recall why we didn't end up staying there. I couldn't get an exact location on your first one, but it seemed okay given the general area.

I didn't pick the "perfect" location for the places where we stayed, but it didn't really matter. As I said in my response on your other post, driving was not hard at all, so easy to get around. Driving thru the countryside was delightful. For cities we would just park where we could and walk thru the towns. I think you will be fine in any of your three options.

bilboburgler

They all look good, I've exchanged a number of emails with Masseria Iazzo Scagno as a possible wedding site and they were very helpful. I think anyone would have a great time there, I think I remember that they don't do evening meals but there are a couple of restuarants reasonably close by
 

ekscrunchy

I would love to see the locations on a map. I am familair with the location of Il Frantoio, but not the others, and I've been steered wrong as far as location with the TA maps.

bilboburgler

In this area always check google and their websites as so many are placed incorrectly

Ferkin

Masseria Fumarola is on the Martina to Villa Castelli road a couple of kms outside of Martina. Very chic but very expensive . Masseria Lazzo isn't that far away from Fumarola but obviously much cheaper. Just up the road is San Paulo which is full of restaurants and all of the hill country towns are within easy drives from both.
Il Frontaio is much closer to the coast and in old olive tree country. Plenty of nice little towns nearby with restaurants and the beach is very close. Driving up to Cisternino is easy as well.
Warmer nearer the coast of course by about 5C making the evenings nicer.
Obviously living here i haven't stayed at any so unable to really help with your choice, Sure others can help but sure you ail enjoy the coffee where ever you stay though you ail be hard pressed not to find a great cup of coffee in the area at any bar. There are cheap and very good restaurants around a lll three of your selection. Enjoy !

macdogmom

Thanks for all your replies. Ferkin, thanks for info about small towns near Masseria Iozza. I read they have wonderful breakfasts, but no dinner so we need places not to far to eat in the evening. Do you have any recommendations near Masseria Iazzo?

ekscrunchy

Options from Iazzo Scanno look to include:

Trattoria Le Ruote.

The walled town of Ceglie, which has at least two very well-regarded restaurants: Cibus and Al Fornello da Ricci. Neither of these are around the corner, however…looks like at least about a 20-minute drive.

I did not find driving in the dark to be too scary in that area. But you do need to get good directions beforehand, as road signs can be limited in some rural areas.

yestravel

We used out iPad which has data. it worked really well. you input an address when you have wifi at your hotel. then you follow the dot. Really got all over Puglia with minimal problems.\. I imagine one could do the same with a phone.

macdogmom

Thanks Eks for restaurant suggestions. Looks like Trattoria Le Ruote is in Martina Franca, closest town to the Masseria. Yes, I use GPS on iPhone all the time. Very helpful in Europe. You can download map of your vicinity on wifi at hotel or apartment and then use for the rest of the day. I love it for walking around cities-don't have to struggle with a map-just pull out my iPhone.

macdogmom

Well, I finally got the Puglia week sorted out. We fly from Paris to Bari on Saturday, May 24, get a rental car and then head to Matera for 2 days. Reserved at Locando San Martino which I think gets some love on these boards. Monday, we drive to Masseria Iazzo Scagno near Martina Franca for 3 nights. Our son and his girlfriend will be joining us on Tuesday and rates looked really good for their more frugal pocketbooks. It has great ratings on TA and Booking.com. Our last 2 nights is a splurge on us at La Sommita in Ostuni. It's a lot of moving around but we wanted to stay in villages as well as countryside. Now I start with restaurant and sightseeing planning. Thanks for everyone's help. I have wanted to do this trip for a couple years and all the great info I got from Fodor's stellar posters really helped!

kja

I enjoyed the Locando di San Martino in Matera very much. Hope you do, too!