Masseria Mongiò dell'Elefante

Bellissima posizione in mezzo alla natura. Siamo rimasti sorpresi dall’ampiezza degli spazi esterni, dalla cordialità del personale e dall’ottima cucina. Splendida la passeggiata verso Baia dei Turchi, pochi minuti per raggiungere una delle più incantevoli spiagge del litorale di Ottanto.

La struttura è molto bella ed elegante, immersa nel verde e vicinissima alla splendida Baia dei Turchi. Il personale è molto gentile e disponibile. La camera è molto accogliente e pulitissima. Struttura consigliatissima!

Sehr ruhige Lage, ein schöner Pool, schöne Frühstücksterrasse

lokatie was prachtig - gunstig gelegen aan zee en niet ver van het mooie plaatsje Otranto. Zwembad is groot (20 meter) - er zijn gratis goede fietsen ter beschikking. Er is een goede keuken waar elke avond een ander menu wordt gekookt. We kregen een welkomstdiner en een fles wijn mee naar huis (hadden we niet op gerekend!) en o ja ze hebben ook een wellness room - super mooi en fijn. Sauna - turks stoombad en nog meer -

Schönes, gut ausgestattetes Zimmer , Personal sehr freundlich und hilfsbereit. Sehr schöne und gepflegte Anlage.

Bellissima posizione vicino alla splendida Baia dei Turchi. Ottima colazione. Grandi spazi verdi. La Spa in esclusiva

Una masseria meravigliosa, curata nei particolari, offre spazi incantevoli, un' atmosfera di totale relax in un contesto naturalistico unico. Il personale è estremamente gentile e disponibile, attento ad ogni esigenza del cliente. Consigliatissima

la pulizia, la pace, la vista, i profumi, il cibo, il garbo e la discrezione del personale, la simpatia del proprietario

Die wunderschöne Gartenanlage, traumhaft!

Wir hatten wunderschöne 7 Tage in der Masseria Mongio dell‘ Elefante verbracht und uns sehr wohl gefühlt. Die Zimmer und Einrichtung insgesamt ist sehr geschmackvoll. Das Frühstück war reichhaltig und das Abendessen ausgezeichnet. Auch als Vegetarier ist das Menu am Abend hervorragend. Die Lage der Masseria ist ein Traum, keine 5 Minuten vom Meer entfernt. Die Anlage ist sehr idyllisch angelegt mit vielen Zitrusbäumen, großen Feigenkakteen und vielen Wandelröschensträuchern. Toller Pool mit ausreichend Liegemöglichkeiten. Wir können die Masseria sehr empfehlen und kommen auf jeden Fall gerne wieder.

Proximity to nice beach. Great pool and very attentive staff

Goed ingericht

Quello che mi è piaciuto di più di questa masseria è la vicinanza al mare ed il contesto naturalistico. Durante il soggiorno ho potuto effettuare lunghe passeggiate nella campagna o in riva al mare partendo direttamente dalla mia camera. Fantastico!

Il ristorante offre un menù del giorno molto gustoso ed una buona prima colazione. Ci tornerò.

The property and facilities are beautiful. The staff is lovely and very accommodating. The restaurant offered delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner. The pool area is lovely. The location is a quick 10 minute drive to the historical and charming town of Otronto.

We were delighted to get an Email from the masseria when we landed at Brindisi airport. Apparently we wouldn’t make dinner that night but would we like a snack delivered to our room? That is attention to detail and it set the tone for our 10 night stay in mid-September. After a 50 minute transfer arranged by the masseria we were warmly greeted by Sophia and guided to our accommodation. Waiting for us was a Caprese salad, some cheese and a very nice bottle of primitivo red.

Our suite was called Alimini and consisted of a living room, a bathroom and a bedroom. It’s in the main building beside the restaurant. They’ve gone for the bare aesthetic, no decoration or ornamentation except wood and stone. I like it, especially the floors which are polished local limestone. They’re a beautiful cream colour and cool underfoot. The walls were 50-60 cms thick and this also helps keep the rooms cool.

Both the living room and bedroom had double doors out into a small garden area. It was a nice suite, not overly large but comfortable.

The bed was quite firm a duvet under the fitted sheet helped enormously. There’s a small kitchen unit in a cupboard. It has 2 cooking rings, a sink and all the pots and pans you might need to do some light cooking. I’m not sure why one would use this given the wonderful food (see below).

We thought the bathroom (1.5m square) rather small and the shower a bit dark and with a narrow 30-35cm entrance. I’m not sure the shower doors are necessary really as the shower was probably 1-2m deep. There was a set of bare stone stairs right over the bed and we were occasionally woken by people going up and down, sometimes very late at night. These are minor inconveniences to be fair but there it is.

The electricity in the room is activated by the door entry card. Presumably to stop wasted energy but it made charging devices reliant on our presence in the room. So, bring enough chargers to charge everything simultaneously, we hadn’t. This made it a bit tricky juggling charges and adaptors.

The bedroom air conditioning temperature was limited to 24C which was fine but this is something we’ve never encountered anywhere else. Again I imagine this is to conserve energy. It did not inconvenience us but it seemed odd.

The gardens are very pleasant, well laid out and beautifully maintained. Some fairy lights might be nice, but that’s a very personal thing. I always say there’s very little in life that can’t be improved by fairy lights! There was a little automated lawn mower that we nicknamed Marvin. He looked a little lonely pottering around but so dedicated to his sisyphean task.

The restaurant and the terrace are on the ground level and you go down some curving stairs to the Reception, Spa and breakfast room. i.e. under the restaurant/terrace. People generally collected their breakfast and brought it back upstairs to eat in the morning light but we opted to avoid that and simply ate at one of the tables downstairs. There’s the normal range of breakfast items one would expect. Cereal, toast, cheese, meats, fruit, yoghurts. Eggs & bacon to order. All the coffee you can drink in every variety.

We had use of the Spa as part of our package but we didn’t get around to it. The massage menu is quite extensive and we would usually have at least one massage but we simply didn’t bother. Maybe another time.

The pool is spectacular. We spent pretty much every day there, often on our own or sometimes with a few other people scattered around. It tended to get busier in the late afternoon as people returned from exploring. The water was absolutely beautiful, wonderfully clear and the temperature very temperate for the end of the season. There’s a 2m wide shallow ledge running the length of the pool, lovely for lolling about on and kids love it. Shade is a bit limited. The bamboo covered gazebos do not provide complete shade but the big umbrellas are much better. We thought the one on the far right as you enter the best one. Service is via WhatsApp and amazingly quick.

We went down to the Beach one day but aside from that we didn’t. It was quite busy and looked lovely. We’re more pool people so after our initial exploration we gave it a miss.

The other guests were mostly couples, some small families and one very large rambunctious group. The latter tended to take over the pool in the afternoons. Guests were predominantly from Italy, UK & Northern Europe. Some Canadians and Americans. Most stayed a few days only, some for 5 or 6 nights a few for longer. One couple had stayed for 3 weeks. We met some really terrific people and had some great conversations.

We were on half board and thoroughly enjoyed it. The food here is *absolutely* amazing, - mostly fish and all great. It’s very hard to pick out favourites from the ever changing menus but we especially liked the carpaccio, all the swordfish dishes (e.g. bombette & gratin) and all the fresh pasta dishes. We had a trofie dish for lunch which was a yellow tomato sauce with capers, olives, stracciatella, speck and basil which I’m still dreaming about. The desserts were fabulous, especially the Chocolate Fondant and the layered ice cream dessert (spumoni?).

The menu changed daily and I don’t think we had any repetition (maybe swordfish gratin). That’s very impressive for lunch & dinner for 10 days! The wine list is small and good. Everything we tried was great. Some of Italy’s best wines come from Puglia and this was very evident here.

There’s no bar but guests are welcome to sit on the terrace beside the restaurant and order drinks from reception. We did this every evening.

We took taxis to local restaurants and into Otranto. The latter is well worth a visit, especially to see the beautiful mosaic floor in the Byzantine Basilica San Pietro.

I know weather is unpredictable but we had the most beautiful days here, bright clear sunshine filled days. Occasionally some cloud but not a lot really. A cooling breeze. The temperature was perfect 24-27C, cooler at night. September in beautiful Puglia, what’s not to like.

The staff were terrific. Everyone was so lovely, welcoming and super efficient. We didn’t catch too many names but we saw Giovanni, Ivan, Martina, Sophia & Valentina often. The pool guys, garden, housekeeping, the house, kitchen & restaurant staff, everyone - thank you all for looking after us so well.

We had a terrific break here and we were very sad to leave. We would definitely stay here again though perhaps in a different room.

Wir hatten Räder dabei, aber es stehen auch Räder gratis zur Verfügung, die sind sogar ganz gut in Schuss. Otranto ist über eine Art Radweg gut erreichbar, auch abends. Das Personal war super. Frühstück war prima, Abendessen lohnt sich.

Staff were lovely, all super comfortable and clean - very short walk to spectacular rocky outcrop jutting into the sea from which to watch the sunrise. Borrowing the bikes and cycling into Otranto was fun.

Breakfast and dinner both very nearly perfect. Cakes at breakfast need to be more moist, and bread is not as exciting as might be. Liked the staff a lot. Very fond of the ambience of the plain white unfussy masseria itself. Swimming pool couldn’t be much better especially for a rubbish swimmer.

This is a true haven of warm hospitality, comfortable accommodation, delicious food and beautiful pool within a 10 minute walk of the beach. We enjoyed 2 nights here during our visit to Apulia. Thank you to all the staff for making it such a lovely stay. If you are lucky enough to visit Otranto, don't hesitate in booking Masseria.