Park Hotel San Michele

Park Hotel San Michele is Martina Franca's classic hotel: a villa surrounded by a centuries-old park of more than 5,000 m², on Viale Carella, a few minutes' walk from the old town. It is the practical base in the Itria Valley if you want a hotel with services, parking and a pool, and to walk out to dinner in the Baroque centre.

A house with history

The hotel stands on the lands of a 19th-century masseria, that of San Michele. In 1899 it was bought by the Aquaro brothers, snow merchants: they gathered snow in winter in ice-houses dug into the rock and sold it in the coastal cities for making ice cream and sorbets. When industrial ice arrived, the ice-house became a wine cellar, and in the 1950s the masseria became an Art Nouveau-style villa, with marble and wrought iron by local craftsmen, while the vines gave way to the garden. In 1974 it opened as a hotel, and in the 1980s it added a new wing.

The rooms

It has 83 bright rooms, with views of the park and the pool or towards the city: singles of 16 m², Comfort of 21 m² for two, Superior and Family for three, and Premium of 40 to 45 m² for up to four people. All have air conditioning, minibar, kettle for tea and coffee, wifi and television, and a bathroom with shower.

Services

The outdoor pool, in the middle of the park, is free for guests in summer; the website gives the season as 1 June to 30 September on one page and May to September on another. The indoor parking is free. There is a restaurant serving local cooking with zero-kilometre produce, 24-hour reception, a lift, luggage storage and paid transfers from stations and airports. The concierge books beaches, excursions and visits to oil mills and wineries. At reception Italian and English are spoken. Small dogs are admitted, up to 10 kg and 35 cm, with a possible supplement. The tourist tax is €1.50 per person per night, up to five nights.

Getting there

It is at Viale Domenico Carella, 9, outside the wall and near the old town. Martina Franca is a little over an hour from Bari by car, and has a Ferrovie del Sud Est station.