Massimiliano's late father, Gino, who grew up near Gallipoli, bought the Masseria Mosca in the mid-eighties when masserias were lying abandoned about the Salento countryside after the collapse of the peasant economy. At that time tourism was solely concentrated around beach resorts and their high-rise hotels and it was unheard of in Puglia to use a masseria in the middle of the fields for a luxury holiday. Gino loved the countryside. He was also a man with modernist tastes and the clean geometrical lines of the Masseria's architecture appealed to him. He found a local architect, Franco Carriero, who shared his tastes and remained faithful to the masseria's unadorned silhouette. His wife, Angela, looked after the interior design and furnishings with her impeccable taste and flair. Since they took the lead, many other local masserias have been restored and converted in the same style, mostly into hotels.
Gino and Angela also worked together on the planting, weaving together the original olive and fig trees with new palms, cactii, citrus trees, lawns and bougainvillea, to make a little secluded paradise out of the Masseria's gardens. Gino also envisaged a communal spirit for the Masseria so the "Clubhouse", an enormous communal hall with original fireplace opposite the pool still remains at the disposal of all our guests, making it ideal for group bookings to share a larger space.
1 comment:
I have recently returned from Masseria Mosca and unfortunately myself and family were very dissapointed with the area and accomodation. We were told that we would have it to ourselves (there were 17 of us) unfortunately when we arrived there were five other apartments that are not advertised which are owned privately but Italians. They were very unapproving of us being there and inflicted rules upon us which we have since found on your Italian web site - none of which are written in English. We had to be quiet during siesta, quiet after 11pm, no football allowed even though the grounds were big enough, and swimming hats had to be worn in the pool - although this didn't seem to apply to the Italians. It felt like a prison camp espcially as walking outside of the "walled garden" was extremly dangerous. The accomodation was really not as described - none of our apartments had any cooking facilities except for a hob and our apartment didn't even have a table or any work surface to be able to prepare food. And one barbeque between 12 apartments was just ridiculous - espcially as you had to book it in advance. The area itself is very dirty - litter is strewn along all the roads and there is alot of graffitti everywhere. All in all we went on a large family holiday that we had been looking forward to for over a year and which cost alot of money, only to feel like we had been sent to a prison camp. The site is very misleading and this accomodation and the area of Puglia is not somewhere I would recommend.
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