We first stayed here in 2004 and have returned regularly since. B&B accommodation is either atop the very imposing villa and boasts its own breakfast veranda or there are typical pugliesi stone cottages available too, all in spacious grounds enclosed by stone walls. For tennis appassionati, there are clay courts, while the less energetic can explore the beautifully kept gardens. A focal point of the garden, and an essential facility during the warmer weather, is the marvellous walk-in swimming pool. This is a family-run establishment and service is efficient but informal and relaxed. The Villa is centrally located in the Salentine peninsula. The Baroque splendours of the provincial capital Lecce are but a 10 minute drive away and the contrasting coastlines not much further. Ancient settlements in the interior, such as Acaya, are also on the doorstep and well worth a visit. Distances are not huge and even places further afield such as Alberobello are easily reached in a couple of hours. For quality of stay and location, Villa Diana would be pretty hard to beat in Salento.

I first discovered the Villa 4 years ago and have returned 3 times. I have also had my son, his wife and my 18 month granddaughter stay at this location as well as some friends. These are perhaps the best endorsements one can give for this wonderful, calm setting that embodies every tourist’s dream of Italy. The WEB site’s pictures are an accurate portrayal of this little bit of paradise. I have always stayed in the stone cottages - nestled close to a small vineyard and adjacent to a grove of orange trees- the latter provided us with fresh orange juice every morning. The family that runs the place –Diana the main driving force in terms of the structures (with limited English but expressive hand gestures) and the son– Paolo ((very competent in English) - the main contact person are very helpful with any problems you may encounter and go above and beyond what would one expect. For example, Paolo managed to get me football tickets for a game and then picked me up afterwards when the weather became inclement.
The furniture in the cottage is rustic and lovely and includes a fire place. Over the stove is a giant upside down cauldron that serves as an odor catcher. Cupboards have double paned, glass doors with pressed flowers between. The huge outdoor area with its beautiful swimming pool (not your typical hotel rectangle), a wonderfully maintained tennis court (Gianni,, Diana’s husband is the regional doubles champion), and a immense garden with olive trees to meander around creates very special surroundings
Breakfast consists of supplies being placed in your fridge. The kitchen facilities in both the apartment over the main house (where my son’s family stayed) and in the cottages are very complete.
On occasion, barking dogs in the surrounding countryside would decide to serenade us during the early morning hours - but this was the only bit of noise that intruded upon our stay. There is absolutely no traffic noise or other sounds to be heard on the premises.
The Villa is very secure, with an automatic gate and is located on the outskirts of a smallish village (Merine) where the people and the store clerks are very friendly and all the necessities for cooking etc can be found within a 10-15 minute walk. I would suggest that a car is pretty much a necessity if you want to visit any places beyond the wonderful town of Lecce. The latter is about a 20 minute bike ride – but part of that ride is on a busy road.
Overall this is an outstanding spot to make as your home away from home while you explore this wonderfully relatively undiscovered region.

We spent 7 days in Villa Diana, and made the right choice of appartment - we chose the one above the main residence (where the extended family still live), which was spacious and airy. It had a well-equipped kitchen, and the owners thoughtfully provided all the necessities for the first morning's breakfast. The only complaint we had about the rooms is that the decor is fairly tired, and could do with a re-decoration. The air-conditioning units could do with being replaced as well, the one above the bed was so loud that we couldn't have it on and sleep at the same time.

The grounds are beautiful, and the swimming pool area an oasis of calm - we were lucky to be the only people staying in the villa at the time, and as such had sole use of the pool. If all 3 appartments were full of pool-lovers, there may have been a fight for the use of the 2 sun-loungers available. Also, beware of going in high season: the villa is also used as a wedding / party venue, and on days when the venue is being used, the swimming pool is out of bounds to guests. This is not made clear on the website, and while we only had one such day on our trip in May, I can imagine that this may be a nuisance in the high season.

One further tip: the tennis court is in fabulous nick, but we couldn't use it, as they insist on proper clay-court tennis shoes only. This wasn't mentioned on the website, which was disappointing.

All in all I would recommend this as a great base for exploring the surrounding areas, with some pool days interspersed among the visiting days. The grounds are beautifully kept, and you can help yourself to the fruits from the plethora of trees around the gardens.

17/09/08.. We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Puglia.We stayed at VILLA DIANA in Merine near Lecce which was a wonderful location, there is an apartment within the villa and 2 stone houses in the grounds [surrounded by olive groves and all kinds of fruit trees].We stayed in one of the stone houses ,both have air con which is needed even in September. the houses are plain but very clean ,good shower ,cooker,fridge.Outside there is a patio with shade ,tables ,chairs ,sunloungers and in our case a lovely pomegranet tree.. The pool area is first class, hot tub deep pool, loungers and the added bonus of never more than 6 people to enjoy it.. they do hold wedding receptions during the summer months but this never impinged on our enjoyment or disturbed us in any way. A truly lovely location from which to explore the surrounding area.. We visited Lecce,Otranto,Gallipoli,Ostuni,Alberobello, all which had their own charm, staying where we did enabled us to visit both the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea without too much driving.On the subject of driving, we drive all over Europe , the Italians are the worst and most dangerous drivers in the world but if you are used to driving for us "on the wrong side of the road" its bearable to enable you to see what you want to see. Eating out was a delightful pleasure, we did have a very good phrase book and almost managed to discover what was on the menu, not every time but that did lead to us trying some wonderful new dishes. Language can be a problem as we only met one person in two weeks who could speak English and even though our Italian is limited we got through without too much trouble.Most of our planning was done with the aid of The Thomas Cook Traveller To Puglia book available in the UK and US . i hope to put some photos on the site and we are happy to answer any questions people may have ....John and Trish