As a southern Italian-born, London-based lifestyle writer with a love of contemporary design, I know an instantly iconic hotel when I spot one, especially when it opens in a region neighboring the one I call home. And so I felt in seeing the first images of Vista Ostuni, the five-star luxury stay that, just launched at the feet of the charming Ostuni — a storied, picturesque village of some 32,000 residents in the Apulian province of Brindisi, also known as the 'White City' for its white-washed limestone buildings — has the potential to rebrand this quaint destination into an unexpected oasis of contemporary design.
The latest new entry to the LarioHotels group's VISTA portfolio, whose equally lavish holiday properties on Lake Como and Verona, and sibling establishments Villa Flori, Posta Design, and Terminus, make the brand one of the creators of some of the best hotels in Italy, Vista Ostuni is the brainchild of third- and four-generation hoteliers Bianca and Luigi Passera.
As the chairwoman and CEO of the VISTA collection, which strives to unlock the hidden potential of lesser-known Italian locations, the two explain that this opening represents their "boldest and most meaningful project to date". It is only in unraveling the multiple aspects of this ambitious restoration that one understands why that is.
Vista Ostuni — Not Just Looking Back to, But Reviving the Past
First comes Vista Ostuni's geographical positioning. "70% of foreign tourists who visit Italy see 1% of the heritage [that is there]," Roberto Murgia, whose architectural practice, RMA Studio, was behind its hotel design, says. To lure him into collaborating with the Passera family on the transformation of the 14th-century palazzo that's now home to this boutique sojourn was the opportunity to put one of the country's steeped-in-history yet overlooked wonders under a new light.
Prior to its hospitality relaunch, the hotel's building, which spans over 6,000 square meters of interiors across 28 suites and rooms, two restaurants, and two bars, along with lifestyle amenities like indoor and outdoor swimming pools as well as wellness and fitness areas, and 16,000 of outdoor space, lived multiple and diametrically opposite lives.
Sharing its roots with Rome's kaleidoscopic Palazzo Talìa, it was erected as a Dominican convent in the 1300s, active until 1595, before being converted into a shelter and school for girls and, later, in the 20th century, accommodating the headquarters of tobacco processing factory Manifattura Tabacchi, which shut permanently in 1969.
With a past as both a convent and a tobacco factory, this 14th-century palazzo has found a new life as hip new design hotel, Vista Ostuni.
That's where a great deal of Vista Ostuni's charm lies: in the VISTA portfolio's commitment to tell "the story of our country through the recovery of historic buildings," Roberto explains, allowing guests to discover less conventional destinations, cultures, and traditions without interfering with the tranquillity and rhythms intrinsic to these places.
Southern Italian cities like Ostuni are largely associated with cerulean blue waters and skies, but can represent a far less idyllic reality for their natives. Here, the decay of former industrial facilities that, after closing down, fall into disuse, is a symptom of the area's challenging financial situation. These architectural 'specters', left to age under the baking sun, haunt the local population as reminders of opportunities that were once there and are, sadly, no more.
"Bringing the former Manifattura Tabacchi back to life means giving it back to the community, rediscovering the views [it holds] of the White City and its plain of olive trees," the Passera family and Roberto explain.
A Rebirth Through Design
To underpin the design vision behind Vista Ostuni is "a sense of place". "It is the soul of the project," the Passera family explains. Still, this doesn't mean architect Roberto Murgia simply laid on the Puglia region's ancestral craftsmanship and artistic language to sculpt the hotel into shape, at least not in the most direct, obvious of ways.
Inside this five-story, almost surreally beautiful hotel stay, the legacy of the past quietly gives way to an avant-garde understanding of contemporary artisanry. Woven rattan and printed wall paneling gently envelops the colorful, chunky beds and the cabinetry placed in the rooms. Mediterranean, Japanese, tropical modernism, and industrial references dialogue harmoniously throughout.
Artworks painted on fabric and embroidered bedding step in to infuse a touch of whimsy into the buttery or terracotta-toned suites. It is an eclectic exercise that, owing as much to key figures of Made in Italy design like pioneering architect and industrial designer Gio Ponti — credited by some with the invention of 'the Italian holiday destination' — as it borrows from Puglia's manifold art expressions, celebrates local practices without feeling too self-referential.
Reflecting the influence that the nearby Mediterranean, "the cradle of our culture, a place of meeting and conflict, which has forged the people and the architecture of the cities it touches with its slow, enduring movement", holds on Ostuni, Roberto has incorporated bespoke contributions from artisans based in Puglia and other regions into a tangible tapestry of Italian life.
Not Just an Italian, But an International Destination
Enza Fasano's acclaimed Grottaglie ceramic lab contributed the vases, glazed cotto floors came courtesy of Cava de' Tirreni's manufacturer Cottovietri, and Sardinian textile artist Mariantonia Urru created the carpets, for a start, with Servomuto behind the lamps and Marmi Fuda responsible for the laying of the local stone floors.
Perhaps, though, the most innovative aspect of Vista Ostuni is its ability to embody Italian excellence while simultaneously not looking (stereotypically) Italian at all. Take, for example, the draped in flowy curtains, arched lounge pictured a couple of paragraphs above, filled with modular, ondulating oversized sofas dreamed up by Patricia Urquiola, amber glass LOKUM coffee tables by Dutch artist Sabine Marcelis, and Giovanni Travasa's Eva Chairs for Vittorio Bonacina.
Here, the best of Italian and the world's decor collide, birthing a whole new and much more stimulating way of engaging with contemporary design — one that proves that Italy's contribution to it needs not reminiscing about foregone times, but, in its conversation with global inspirations, can also pave the way for new creative explorations.
Couple it with two restaurants led by Michelin-starred chef Andrea Berton (formerly at Il Sereno, home to the world's first listening suite in the world), endless views, and plenty of opportunities for fitness, immersion in nature, and relaxation, and you've got a recipe for success.
