An exclusive interview with Erasmo Piccoli, owner of Ottolire Resort
Ottolire Resort sits among ancient olive groves, woodlands and traditional trulli in Locorotondo, in the heart of Puglia’s Itria Valley, and it is far more than an exclusive retreat. It has just twenty individually designed rooms, an intimate spa, a restaurant that celebrates its own land and an open-air theatre in the woods. This Michelin Key-awarded property embodies a contemporary vision of understated luxury. Its story began in 1973, when the Piccoli family fell in love with this secluded corner of southern Italy. Today Erasmo Piccoli continues that legacy. We sat down with him to discover the soul of Ottolire.
How did the Ottolire journey begin?
The story began before I was born. In 1973 my parents, who were barely eighteen at the time, bought a group of abandoned trulli. That was the start of a long journey to restore the architectural heritage of the Itria Valley. I was born and raised here, and as a teenager I found the isolation difficult. I couldn’t wait to leave. At university, some professors encouraged me to study the traditional architecture of my homeland, and I began to recognise the value of the place where I had grown up. In a way, I fell in love with my home from a distance. Years later, after the birth of my first daughter, we decided to breathe new life into the property and share our family’s heritage with guests from around the world.
How would you describe the resort today?
Ottolire is a seasonal retreat, open from Easter until mid-November. Our twenty rooms are each unique. They are housed in restored trulli and cummerse, the traditional pitched-roof buildings of this area. We use natural materials such as wood, iron and antique fabrics, reinterpreted through a contemporary aesthetic, and local artisans create the furnishings.The same philosophy extends to our cuisine. Our vegetable garden is just steps from the restaurant, and we offer a refined interpretation of traditional Puglian cooking. For us, luxury should never compromise authenticity.
What experiences can guests discover?
Our restaurant is also open to non-residents. We have a spa reserved for two people at a time, a massage room, a pool with bar service and a gym. Our most distinctive feature is the theatre in the woods. It is home to Ottolire Our Soul, a cultural programme now in its fifth edition, with jazz, literary encounters and art. This year Raphael Gualazzi opened the season, and Professor Bacchelli joined us from Milan for a reading of Dante’s Inferno. Experiencing literature or music beneath the stars, surrounded by the forest, is truly special.
How does Ottolire respond to the desire for privacy?
Privacy is central to everything we do. About half of our rooms have private courtyards, and many have their own small pools, so guests can spend an entire day in their own secluded space. The property is so spacious that, unless everyone gathers for dinner, guests hardly realise how many people are staying. We are also planning five new rooms overlooking the vegetable garden, each with a private pool.
If you had to capture the essence of Ottolire in three words?
Ancestral. Silence. Connection… The first is ancestral, because every stone here tells my family’s story. My grandfather was a paretaro, a builder of dry-stone walls, and my great-grandfather was a trullaro, a specialist in building trulli. Even the name Ottolire comes from his nickname. The second is silence, the invisible thread that connects every corner of the resort. It is perhaps our most precious form of luxury. The third is connection, because Ottolire is inseparable from its woodland, its earth and the people who live and work here. We are not simply located in this landscape. We are part of it.
What are today’s international travellers really searching for?
Luxury has shifted from material possessions towards authentic experiences. Here it might mean joining my father in the vegetable garden to pick watermelons, tasting a strawberry straight from the plant, or listening to the cicadas among the fragno oaks. These are simple experiences, yet extraordinarily precious. The real luxury is having the time to enjoy them.
What makes Ottolire special for weddings and celebrations?
First, there is the extraordinary privacy: reaching us means travelling into the heart of the Itria Valley’s woodland. Then there is the setting itself. The valley slopes gently towards the pool before rising towards the woods, and the cummerse create an enchanting backdrop. It feels almost like a natural film set. The remarkable thing is that we didn’t create that beauty. It was already here.
If you could tell Ottolire’s story through one image, one fragrance and one sound?
The image would be sunset, when the light makes the façades of the cummerse glow as though lit from within. The fragrance would be the earth after the rain. The sound would be the cicadas, or the wind moving through the leaves of the fragno oaks.
What is the most meaningful compliment you have received?
I want guests to feel welcomed into our home, not checked into a hotel, and our local team shares this philosophy. A gentleman from New York once told me that the quality of the service was not what stayed with him most. What truly stayed with him was the feeling of having found another family. That meant an enormous amount to me.
What makes Puglia extraordinary, and how can Ottolire contribute to its future?
Puglia combines natural beauty, cultural heritage, a spectacular coastline and rich culinary traditions, but its greatest strength is authenticity. We see ourselves as ambassadors of the territory. Receiving a Michelin Key reinforced our responsibility to promote thoughtful, culturally sensitive tourism. The future of luxury should not be about more visitors. It should be about deeper connections between people and places.
What dreams do you still have for Ottolire?
I prefer to take one step at a time. Next, we are planning a space where guests can pick their own vegetables, collect eggs from our hens and prepare breakfast in a rustic setting. As for other projects, I prefer to keep a little mystery. In a world defined by speed and excess, Ottolire offers something more precious: the freedom to slow down and rediscover the beauty of simplicity. Perhaps that is the ultimate expression of luxury.
Discover more @ ottolireresort.it
Photos by Michael Zennaro
Article edited by Diana Da Ros
