Property
A beautiful villa which incorporates Moorish and art nouveau elements typical to this area.  The apartments in this complex have equipped kitchens and are relatively inexpensive.

Location
Overlooking the sea, on the hills above the Ionian seaside town of Santa Caterina, north of Gallipoli.

Sleeps
The property has six apartments, sleeping from 2-5.

Highlights
The highlight for our kids was meeting the children of the other families staying here and waiting for the fox that lived in the woods nearby to make his evening appearance; he would gobble up any food left on the picnic table (spaghetti is his favorite). The real highlight is the whole area of the Salento. This is a good base for taking trips around this absolutely stunning region. Don’t miss: Lecce, Gallipoli, Santa Maria de Leuca, Otranto and the nearby Porto Selvaggio.

Good to know
You absolutely need a car – both for reaching this guest house and for exploring the Salento region. Avoid the Salento in August (packed with tourists) – at other times of the spring, summer and early fall you will enjoy it much more without the hordes. There is no pool on the property, which would have been nice. The other disadvantage is that you need to take the car to go down to the town (the street leading up does not have sidewalks and it could be dangerous with children). There is no web site (yes, you read that right). Bookings have to be made by telephone.

Contact
http://torresangiovanni.it/Scinata/Index.asp

Written by Kimberly Sullivan