Peppe Zullo

Why it’s on the Edit

Peppe Zullo is a farm estate at Orsara di Puglia, a stone village in the hills of the Monti Dauni that looks toward the Tavoliere plain. It is built around the work of one man, the cook and farmer Peppe Zullo, who opened a restaurant in Boston in 1978 and came back to Orsara in the mid-1980s to cook from the land.

The estate covers 180,000 m²: a vegetable garden of 22,000 m², a vineyard of 35,000 m² and a wood of 20,000 m² with fruit trees, mushrooms and wild herbs. It adds a dairy, animals and a cooking school. The estate’s line is from the land to the table, with traceable production aimed at quality.

It is listed for the table. The rooms are an extension of the restaurant, the cellar and the school, and the estate is also a busy wedding venue.

The rooms

There are two groups of suites.

The first sits above the Cantina del Paradiso, in the building the estate calls the castle in the vineyard, on the Nuova Sala Paradiso hill. The rooms there are modern and have every comfort, and together they host up to 10 people. You reach them on foot along a path through the small vineyard.

The second group is inside Villa Jamele, the 1700s house at the heart of the estate. These suites are wide and bright, and they keep the elegance and the generous spaces of old noble palaces, with furniture full of original details.

Room counts, sizes and amenities are not confirmed here. Ask before you book, especially for the suites in the villa.

Eating and drinking

The restaurant stands next to Nuova Sala Paradiso and is open for lunch every day except Tuesday. Peppe Zullo and his team cook seasonal food in an open kitchen, drawing on the estate’s garden, vineyard and woods. Evenings are left to the village restaurants, apart from special events.

A second restaurant, the Ristorante nell’Orto, opened in 2012, and the school’s students can use it. After lunch you can walk the vineyard and visit the Cantina del Paradiso.

The estate runs a farm shop, and its vegetarian wedding menus draw on a garden of more than 30,000 m² and a wood with over 50 varieties of fruit trees and edible plants.

The setting

The setting is the Monti Dauni, with vines, orchards, woods and the cellars of Orsara. In the evening the suites look toward the lights and the outline of the abbey of Sant’Angelo.

The Cantina del Paradiso is the architectural showpiece. Above it are the vineyard and the suites. In the vineyard of Villa Jamele an old farmhouse has become the Casa nel Vigneto, a space for wine and rural culture financed through the national recovery plan, with old harvest tools, barrels and a press.

Good to know

• The restaurant is open for lunch only, every day except Tuesday. Phone bookings are taken from 10:00 to 18:00.
• The estate hosts one wedding at a time, so the grounds can be taken over.
• The cooking school runs from September to November and from February to April.
• A pool, a spa and pets are not confirmed here.
• Price band: 1 of 5 (estimated: no official rate found).

Who it suits, and who should look elsewhere

It suits food lovers, couples planning a wedding, and anyone who wants to learn Puglian cooking on a farm, from bread and pasta to cheese and wild herbs. Guests who like to eat dinner in a village after a lunch at the estate will be comfortable.

Look elsewhere for a beach or a hotel with an evening restaurant, and ask first if a pool matters. For other farm stays in the area, see Masseria Salecchia or Villa Giuliani Resort, and browse the Foggia and the Monti Dauni hub.

Getting there

Peppe Zullo is at Via Piano Paradiso, Orsara di Puglia, in the Foggia and the Monti Dauni area. Bari is the nearer international airport, and the cooking course offers transport from there.

A car is the practical way to arrive. The estate says its two structures are linked to Foggia by buses of the Ferrovie del Gargano, but timetables are not covered here.