Please listen to the other reviewers. We travel a lot and this is one of the worst. Stay at a 30 euro masseria for better quality. My husband booked this without reading reviews.
Yes, it does smell. Plus, the jacuzzi and shower are in the room. This is not romantic. It is like being in a handicap room and the water goes all over the room. When the other rooms had their jacuzzis on it sounded like a construction site in our room. I could even hear people sneeze in the lobby and crying babies in other rooms. No soundproofing at all. Plus, you can't check out early without forfeiting all of your money. We did not book through a website but direct with the hotel. They require 21 days advance notice for a full refund! This is your first clue as I'm sure many people check out early. The room (we had a superior - the standard room is even worse) is small and dark - only one small door to a balcony that looks at a parking lot. The location is far from everything but that would have been OK if the hotel was decent. The spa is only open 3 pm - 11 pm. The restaurant was closed for us also - on Sunday and we too had to suffer through an awful and expensive (for the quality) buffet since nothing else is around. Since this is listed as a wine resort I expected to at least have a good glass of wine. A glass from the bar was the worst I've had in Italy. They must use the cheapest for the bar. Again, don't stay here. We are checking out as soon as possible!!! I have a migraine from all the noise!

We arrived after a 6 hour drive to be told the kitchen was closed on Mondays. A very poor buffet was served in place of dinner. On arrival The hydro massage bath in the bedroom was host to a dead fly. The shower flooded to ankle level after 10 seconds. There was no directory of services in the room and there appear to be none of the standard services that you expect from a 4 star hotel such as, room service, laundry, etc. The carpet and bed cover were badly stained. There was no full length mirror, no mirror in the bedroom and the one in the bathroom was placed so high that I had to stand on tiptoe to use it. Despite an absence of 6 hours our room was not made up on one occasion. The breakfast was poor with an indifferent service. The orange juice was out of a packet and they ran out of croissants every morning. Dinner was barely acceptable and my husband had to return one course to the kitchen 3 times. The spa looked interesting but remained unattended on the several times I tried to book an appointment. We have stayed in 4 star and above hotels across Europe and can honestly say that this is absolutely not a 4 star hotel.

top choise here in puglia...the restaurant is great...first class food, hot bread and hand made pasta, the best choise of italian wines, very good service...very good room for us (like a superior new room)...the spa is little but really complete, hot swimming pool inside, turck bath, sauna... me and my colleagues be done some massages and we rebird..fantastic and relaxing...even the staff is professional and very helpful. we loved this place and we want to came back as soon as possible. we spent just a little more of 100£ each...we never find nothing better..even the place is near Ostuni aLberobello Martina Franca, and in some days we have to go in Lecce or Bari or Taranto and it was simple (2 good highways at 9 km from hotel) ...good stay in puglia at Relais la Fontanina.

Avoid this place as you would the plague. We are very seasoned travellers to Italy but it was our first holiday to the Puglia region where we spent 3 wonderful weeks. The only disappointment we encountered during that period was Relais La Fontanina (RFL). We were booked in for 9 nights with friends and we stayed for just one which was one too many. Our experience reflects the risk you take when booking from the internet only and without a personal recommendation. However, it simply is not worth jeopardising your holiday on account of one bad decision and our decision to vacate RFL was more than justified when we went on to discover the wonderful Masseria Il Fontoio and La Rascina.
The initial impression as you approached RLF was good but, alas, this was as good as it got. The interior of RFL completely lacks character and atmosphere – it is very “unitalian”. It most definitely is not somewhere you would go to sample and enjoy the Italian experience. The first thing which hits you in the charmless foyer is the smell – chlorine and “sweat” – akin to what you tend to encounter in a gymnasium. It is difficult to say which was more nauseous – the smell or the lime green and pink colour scheme used to decorate this area.
Having negotiated the pontoon bridge structure across the upper floor over the foyer, we arrived at our “room”. This was a colourless box – more cell - like and without a single print to brighten the otherwise dull colour scheme or adequate storage for clothes - and all the time “the smell”. The external rear part of RLF which encompasses the pool area is still very much akin to a building site but not quite as bad as some of the pics already on this site – but not a place which would encourage you to linger or spend time.
The bar area is housed within the receptionist area in the foyer - again, not somewhere you would linger - and it stocks a very limited range of drinks. Breakfast the next morning was served in the foyer and in front of a 40”+ plasma TV tuned to CNN or some other news channel. The breakfast itself was very forgetable. All in all, RFL is poor but thankfully it is not representative of Puglia.
At the time of writing, I am still awaiting a refund of part of the monies taken from my credit card by RFL and to which I am entitled under its booking Terms and Conditions. This is so despite numerous emails from them and phone calls to them wherein they promised to do so.