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Profile
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 Masseria "Serra dell'Isola" is a charming manor house surrounded by secular olive trees. It's situated on a hill 4 Km from Adriatic sea, in the neighbourhood of Mola di Bari, a pleasant little town in the heart of Apulia.
"Serra dell'Isola" has been built by my family in the 18th century. More than the owner, I consider myself the heiress and the guardian of a tradition and of a place where time and frenetic rhythm of the metropolis are distant and unknown. After years of activity as a journalist, being involved above all with problems concerning the environment and agriculture, I now devote myself to the study of our history and of our southern identity, I love good cooking and I prepare liqueurs and jams. |
 I do wish that my guests feel at home, and the warm, magical atmosphere of my house and gardens help me. As my father used to say, "Although the Masseria has its story, we won't narrate it. We prefer to let your imagination discover or invent story and characters that animate it, in the hope that they will keep your company during your stay and long after." |
 Life at "Serra dell'Isola" will make you remember the country vacations at the end of the 19th century. The original architecture of the masseria has been preserved and the antique family furniture give a unique atmosphere. The core of "Serra dell'Isola" is the "lamione" (great voult), a stone-built room, once used as frantoio (olive mill), serving now as a large living room. |
 Its meter thick walls provide cool shelter during hot summers and warm cover in winter time, with the smell of the firewood burning in the many terracotta stoves and in the walk in fireplace. The many paths outside its white washed walls will lead you to places, legends, emotions that escape to the hurried tourist. |
 "Serra dell'Isola" joins the tranquillity of a country mansion with the comfort of a modern city setting. You can have an internet ADSL point, even staying in the garden. But, if you prefer, you will discover the joy of being at leisure under the trees while reading a good book, when the mistral (north westerly wind) blows, the "wind of the Lords", as the farmers used to call it, because it is a gentle breeze that gets up late and brings up here the pleasant smell of the sea and the desire to relax having nothing to do.
Cooking at "Serra dell'Isola" varies with the seasons. There is a big variety of vegetables, legumes and fruits. Some recipes come, as those of the liqueurs, from my family's notebooks, where butter had little power, but pure olive oil of our secular olive trees was one of the main ingredients even in cakes. |
 You will taste these ingredients in the rich healthy breakfasts that we serve: home made biscuits, pies, bread, jams and marmalades and creams, fresh fruit, juices. On request, exceptionally I'll be pleased to cook for you, and I promise that my candlelight dinners in the dining room or in the garden will be a singular experience for you. |
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