Beautiful home. It was beyond our expectations. Host was gracious, readily available for any concerns, and was able to make our stay as comfortable as possible. We had a wonderful time in a beautiful historic palatial home situated in a beautiful village. The gardens are beautiful and the pool was fabulous and perfect end to each day.

Great communication before our holiday with the property owner, met us upon arrival. A whistle stop tour of the property which is huge, split across three floors and a number of rooms. The first thing I would say before commenting further is that Poggiardo is amazing. Our party comprised of 6 adult adults, an 18 year old and 15 year old and two small children and we wanted a location to suit all. Poggiardo did not disappoint as we stepped right from the property into this gorgeous little town with bars, pizzerias and restaurants galore and only 15 minutes by car to the beaches. Drive around Puglia and be sure to be wowed by sun drowned, glittering beaches, water parks and much more. Palazzo Umberto was beautiful upon first impression but upon closer inspection, needs a great deal of maintenance work. We had to argue considerably with the owner after days of the electricity cutting out up to 12 times a day. This was because of not enough power being supplied to the property, as confirmed when an electrician was called to the property. Eventually, she agreed to pay to increase the power. The furniture is tired and weak, the recreation room featured in the photos is unusable due to considerable damp and the foozball table is broken. The owner would benefit from adopting the attitude of other property managers I have rented villas from in the past by including linen and towel changes into her price. We did not receive this service. The property has huge potential to be a great place to stay but needs a lot of work. We hope that this review will encourage the necessary changes.

I had a fantastic stay in November… the house is extremely comfortable… I loved the living room where it could also be enjoyed with a very velvety view of the ancient village. Under the house excellent restaurants, bars, winery, butcher ... and an excellent breakfast at the table with just 2.50 euros ... Pasticciotto and Cappiccino what goodness !!!

We had a fantastic stay at Palazzo Umberto. The property is enormous, with three relatively self contained sections / apartments within a private and secure compound, in the very centre of Poggiardo. The facilities were great for us (travelling as 2x families plus friends) - lots of garden space for kids to run around, lovely pool area, different courtyards to relax, comfortable bedrooms, plus a wonderful terrace for outdoor dining. We also loved the character of the property - the age, charm and history of the building is retained (with decor to match); while still having all the modern facilities for an extremely comfortable stay. Location is excellent too - Poggiardo is a nice little town, less than 15-20min drive to the beach, some lovely restaurants and cafes, and Wednesday market also worth checking out. Maria was a wonderful host too - check-in was super easy and thorough, with good communication and advice provided throughout our stay. Thanks Maria!

Excellent villa with beautiful pool and plenty of space. Real italian experience in heart of town with great restaurants near by. Host Maria was very helpful.

We stayed as 2 families of 4, there was a huge amount of space and the outside areas were fantastic. We spent a lot of time chilling by the pool and there is a large outside eating area with barbecue where we spent lazy evenings eating gnocchi and drinking Italian wine. There is a pool table and ping pong table in the basement which the teenagers enjoyed. Maria was the perfect hostess, there were fresh figs waiting for us on arrival and she gave us some great recommendations, we especially enjoyed the portici doc pasticceria for breakfast, delicious pastries and caffe leccese. Plenty of room for parking and lots of interesting places to explore in easy driving distance. All in all a great holiday, highly recommended villa.

This is an amazing and beautiful house with a huge amount of space inside and out with a large garden, terrace and orchard, in a premium location in Poggiardo. Having parking was really great - even if we did get blocked in by neighbours a few times! Our holiday did not get off to a good start though. We had asked a month before to postpone to next year as our flights were cancelled, and the UK govt had still not lifted the advice not to travel. We were told no, and also no return of our deposit, only to see the cancellation policy changed on the website two weeks later to full refund with 2 weeks notice, by which time we had paid for more flights. Maria is very friendly and helpful and provided some of the things missing from the inventory (microwave, beach towels), also some local info. There is no hot tub - there are 4 jets in the pool, there are no kayaks/canoe or boat. The house was expansive and lovely, except the smaller ground floor bedroom which was very damp and smelly - the supplied dehumidifier did not solve the problem and the air conditioning did not cool the room. The bathrooms were very tired and need updating - not the standard you would expect of such a grand house. 3 out of the 5 showers were dribbles, 2 were hand held and so not actually showers. There were no shelves or units to put your toiletries so they went on the floor. We were not offered clean towels or sheets during our two week stay. There was some issue with the noise - a dog on the next building roof barking all night and the cigarette machine in the square playing music all night. Maria told us the gardener would come on Monday but he came several times without warning, put in the pool cleaning machine leaving us not able to go in the pool sometimes up until midday. Also someone came in and took the recycling when we were out, helpful yes but not a comfortable feeling. The restaurants have gardens at the back which made for a lovely evening meal, Cafe Borghese was beautiful . Ristorante Ozium staff were very friendly. Caffe Italia was our daily coffee fix and Deborah was very friendly and served fantastic coffee and juices. The market on Wednesdays is fabulous - clothes, shoes, bags, food, homewares. The location in town was great, in the historic centre, but NOT 3km from the sea (which would have been walkable). Be aware the local beaches are rocks or concrete jetties and very crowded; the beach pic in the details is not local.

A fabulous host in Maria and a fantastic villa. Will stay again!