La Masseria

“Masseria” estates came into being in the south of Italy between the 16th and 18th centuries as Country homes for the noble families that went there to repopulate the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The structures were the expression of an economy based on the large estates and the “Masseria” therefore grew into a well-defined social reality.

Immersed in the splendid surroundings of the Apulian countryside, The Masseria “Li Reni” is located in the heart of Salento, at less than four kilometers from Manduria.

History

Built originally as a noble residence for the Troiani Family in the second half of the 1500’s, it was donated to the Monastery of San Giovanni Battista of the Benedictine nuns of Castelnuovo in 1674 as convent dowries for the two daughters of Dr. Giacomo Antonio Troiani. The Unification of Italy (1861) brought about the confiscation of ecclesiastical lands, and the estate, sold at auction in 1866, went to an English-Italian gentleman, Sir James Lacaita, who kept it up to the time of his death in 1895. The following year, his son Charles sold it to the Selvaggi family, owners of an important palace in Manduria.

In 2015, Francesco Selvaggi, a glass artist, transferred the property to the Vespa family who has brought the structure back to its ancient glory thanks to a series of radical restoration interventions.

Location

At just 15 minutes by car from the splendid beaches of San Pietro in Bevagna, Porto Cesareo, Punta Prosciutto, Torre Lapillo, and Torre Colimena, the estate enjoys the silence and peace of the rural setting of the Salentino region, the cradle of this ancient culture and depository of the wine and food heritage of southern Apulia.