Pozzo Volitoin Patù

Why it’s on the Edit

Pozzo Volito is a set of restored stone houses that you rent whole. It is a self-catering rental, not a hotel. The website lists no restaurant and no breakfast service, and cleaning during the stay is on request only. You get a house, a private park, somewhere to swim and a kitchen.

The reason to look at it is the ground around the houses. The estate lies in the protected area of the Canale di Volito, in Patù, and each house has an exclusive park of 12,000 to 14,000 square meters with oaks, laurel, olives, carob, figs and Mediterranean scrub. Original dry-stone walls ring the property, a building technique that UNESCO listed in 2018.

The houses are liàme, the local word for a rural stone building. Il Bosco is an original from 1860, built in stone and restored. La Torre has a square plan and barrel vaults, and the owners say it looks much like a watchtower.

The rooms

Il Bosco sleeps 4 in two bedrooms, one with twin beds and one with a double. An extra bed, a cot or a high chair can be added on request. The house has air conditioning, a fireplace, a washing machine, a hair dryer, an outdoor shower and sun loungers.

La Torre sleeps 2, with a double bed on a mezzanine and one bathroom with a shower. If you need room for two more, booking La Torre lets you add Il Fico, a separate building made from a pajàra, an old round stone building. It has a double room, a bathroom and a minibar, with its own outdoor shower, sunbathing deck and parking.

Linen and towels, utilities, wi-fi and the final cleaning are included in the rate. Extra cleaning and linen changes are charged on request.

Eating and drinking

The website lists no restaurant, so the plan is to cook. Each house has dishes, a microwave and a kettle, and the park has stone tables and seats with a stone barbecue. Firewood is in the woodshed, free to use.

The outdoor spaces do the work of a dining room. La Torre has a gazebo in the shade of a lentisk tree for breakfast, and a large table around a centuries-old olive. Il Bosco has a terrace for sunset aperitifs.

The website gives no list of restaurants. For dinners out in Leuca and the villages around it, ask the hosts before you arrive.

One rule from the owners: the dry season is windy, and high or crackling flames can spread a fire quickly, so put out the embers with water when you finish.

The setting

The owners place the houses a short walk from the beaches of the Ionian Sea and from the grottoes of the Adriatic coast, inside a protected valley.

La Torre has the most history. The estate once held a rural settlement planted with vines, and the original structures are still visible: stone presses for grapes and must, pajàre where the farmers lived, low stone walls that marked the fields, and threshing floors for drying figs.

Il Bosco has a pool in a cave, lit, filtered and heated to 24 degrees Celsius in summer and 30 in winter. La Torre has an old rock-cut water tank, filtered and lit, where you cool off. In winter, Il Bosco has a barrel sauna in Finnish wood with a view over the woods.

Good to know

• The site lists a minimum stay of four nights for the 2026 season.
• Check-in is after 13:00 and can be agreed. Check-out is by 9:30.
• Diving is forbidden in the pool, and children under 12 must be supervised by an adult.
• A paid transfer to and from Brindisi airport is available.
• Not confirmed here: pets, opening months and facilities for children beyond the cot.
• Price band: 1 of 5 (estimated: no official rate found).

Who it suits, and who should look elsewhere

La Torre suits couples who want a private house and a private plunge pool, and who are happy to cook. Il Bosco suits two couples or a family of four who want a pool in a cave, a barbecue and a woodland garden.

Breakfast served to the table, a restaurant downstairs or someone to turn down the bed all point to a hotel. Hotel L’Approdo is a hotel in Leuca with a restaurant. Masseria Ruri Pulcra is a 17th-century farmhouse in Patù with a restaurant.

Getting there

Pozzo Volito is in Patù, in the Santa Maria di Leuca and the Cape area. The hosts name the airport of the Salento at Brindisi as the nearest, and Bari is further north.

The hosts’ directions are written for drivers: they say to take the exit for Patù, follow the signs toward San Gregorio, turn right toward the sea, and cover a short stretch of unpaved road before the asphalt returns. If you would rather not drive on arrival, the hosts offer a paid airport transfer.