Masseria San Domenico: A Luxury Destination Wedding on the Adriatic Coast of Puglia

For couples planning a luxury destination wedding in Italy who are drawn to the authentic soul of the south — to a setting that is specific, historical, and impossibly beautiful — Masseria San Domenico represents the benchmark for what a Puglia wedding can deliver.

A 15th-century fortified watchtower built by the Knights of Malta — five-star resort, 60 hectares of ancient olive groves, thalassotherapy spa, private beach club, 18-hole golf course, private chapel, three restaurants, and 40 rooms and suites in Fasano, Puglia. The definitive luxury masseria wedding in southern Italy.

Puglia is a destination that changes people. The whitewashed towns, the ancient olive groves, the quality of the light on the Adriatic in the late afternoon — there is a specific quality to this corner of southern Italy that is unlike anywhere else in the country, and unlike anywhere in the world. Masseria San Domenico, sitting 500 metres from the Adriatic coast between Bari and Brindisi in Fasano, is the finest expression of what a luxury masseria wedding in Puglia can be: a 15th-century fortified estate once belonging to the Knights of Malta, restored into a five-star resort of extraordinary completeness, surrounded by 60 hectares of ancient olive groves that have been cultivated for centuries.

“A 15th-century fortified watchtower built by the Knights of Malta, surrounded by sixty hectares of ancient olive groves, 500 metres from the Adriatic. Some venues carry history lightly. This one carries it absolutely.”

The History: Knights of Malta, Olive Groves, and Six Centuries

The origins of Masseria San Domenico lie in the 15th century, when the fortified watchtower that anchors the property today was built by the Knights of Malta — the military religious order that controlled much of southern Italy’s coastal defences during the medieval and early modern periods. The tower, with its commanding views over the Adriatic, served as a critical lookout point along the coastline between Bari and Brindisi for centuries.

The estate evolved around this tower into the quintessential Puglian masseria — a self-sufficient agricultural complex of whitewashed stone buildings, arched passageways, and open piazzas, surrounded by the ancient olive groves that remain one of the defining features of the Fasano landscape. After careful restoration — completed with strict attention to the original building materials and forms — the masseria was converted into a five-star deluxe resort whose character reflects the mixed Eastern and Mediterranean cultures that have shaped this region across millennia.

The result is described by Puglia’s most luxurious hotel — a property whose “winning combination of international comfort and refined rusticity” draws couples and travellers from across the world to experience something that, once encountered, is very difficult to find anywhere else.

The Venue: A Complete Destination Wedding Estate

What distinguishes Masseria San Domenico as a destination wedding venue is its completeness. This is not a beautiful property that requires extensive supplementary logistics — it is a fully self-contained resort estate with everything a three-day wedding celebration requires already within its 60 hectares: ceremony spaces, reception settings, fine dining, a world-class spa, a private beach, golf, and 40 rooms and suites where the entire wedding party can be accommodated on exclusive hire.

The Ancient Olive Grove

Centuries-old olive trees, their twisted silver trunks carrying the weight of generations, provide a ceremony setting that no designed landscape can replicate. Vows exchanged beneath the canopy of an ancient olive grove, with the scent of the Mediterranean carried on the sea breeze, are among the most emotionally resonant wedding moments Puglia offers.

The Outdoor Pool & Garden

The masseria’s spectacular free-form brackish water pool — surrounded by subtropical gardens of aloe, bougainvillea, and Mediterranean plantings — provides the setting for cocktail hours of extraordinary beauty. The pool terrace at golden hour, with the gardens in full bloom and the Adriatic air softening the evening light, is a setting that photographers describe as among the finest in southern Italy.

San Domenico Beach Club

A private beach club just five minutes from the masseria, reached via an avenue of olive trees — available for welcome parties, sunset aperitivos, and late-evening celebrations with the sound of the Adriatic below. The beach club setting, for a wedding welcome dinner on the first evening, gives guests an immediate, visceral sense of where they have arrived.

Three Restaurants & 18th-Century Dining Room

An elegant 18th-century indoor dining room, a poolside grill, and a beachside restaurant serving fresh Adriatic seafood — three entirely different dining environments for three days of celebration, each drawing on the extraordinary produce and culinary traditions of Puglia. The region’s burrata, orecchiette, and seafood are not merely on the menu here; they are the point.

The Thalassotherapy Spa & Private Chapel

A state-of-the-art thalassotherapy spa using Adriatic sea water for treatments of genuine therapeutic quality — an exceptional wedding morning experience for the couple and bridal party. The private chapel on the estate is available for intimate blessings and symbolic ceremonies, set within the quiet of the masseria grounds.

Masseria San Domenico Wedding Venue At A Glance

Location
Via Litoranea, 72010 Savelletri di Fasano, Puglia — 500m from the Adriatic, between Bari and Brindisi

History
15th-century fortified watchtower · built by the Knights of Malta · five-star deluxe resort after careful restoration

Accommodation
40 rooms and suites · full exclusive hire available (minimum 3 nights) · interconnected by arched passageways

Estate
60 hectares of semi-tropical gardens and ancient olive groves · free-form brackish pool · private chapel

Dining
18th-century dining room · poolside grill · San Domenico Beach Club (5 min) · three restaurants on estate

Spa & Wellness
Thalassotherapy Spa (Adriatic sea water treatments) · sauna · hammam · indoor pool · gym

Activities
18-hole golf course (5 min) · private beach club · two tennis courts · water sports · horse riding available

Access
Brindisi Airport (BDS) 30 min · Bari Airport (BRI) 1 hr · open April to October

Contact
masseriasandomenico.com · +39 080 482 7769 · info@masseriasandomenico.com

A Note from Our Planning Perspective

Masseria San Domenico is designed for the three-day wedding weekend — and it is one of the few estates in Puglia that has the infrastructure to fully deliver that experience without requiring supplementary logistics. A welcome party at the beach club on the first evening. The ceremony in the olive grove and reception by the pool on the wedding day. A farewell brunch in the garden on the morning after. Each event in a completely different setting, each drawing on the same extraordinary estate. That variety, within a single property, is what makes a wedding weekend here feel genuinely immersive rather than merely well-organised.

The thalassotherapy spa is worth particular mention for international couples. Thalasso treatments using Adriatic sea water have been practiced on this coastline for generations, and the San Domenico Spa’s approach — genuinely therapeutic, genuinely luxurious — makes the wedding morning an experience in itself rather than a logistical preparation. For couples whose guests are arriving from multiple continents, the combination of the spa, the beach club, and the golf course means the estate alone provides three days of experiences without anyone needing to venture beyond the gates.

Why MDE Loves Masseria San Domenico

We have written about Masseria San Domenico before — it appears in our guide to masseria weddings in Puglia, and it holds that place for a reason. Among the luxury masserias of southern Italy, it is the one that most completely delivers on every dimension of a destination wedding: the history, the setting, the accommodation, the cuisine, the wellness, and the sheer variety of spaces across the estate. It is the venue where guests who have never been to Puglia arrive and understand immediately why couples choose to celebrate here rather than anywhere else.

The olive grove ceremony setting is what stays with us most. The ancient trees — some of them centuries old, their root systems deep in the Puglian limestone — create a canopy and an atmosphere that no floral installation or designed setting can approach. The light through those branches in late afternoon. The scent of the earth and the sea together. The weight of time that those trees carry. A ceremony here is not a staged moment. It is something that belongs to the place.

“Guests who have never been to Puglia arrive at Masseria San Domenico and understand immediately why couples choose to celebrate here rather than anywhere else. The olive grove ceremony does the rest.”

Is A Masseria San Domenico Wedding Right For You?

This venue is right for couples planning a luxury destination wedding in Italy who want the authentic soul of Puglia — an ancient masseria built by the Knights of Malta, surrounded by centuries-old olive groves, 500 metres from the Adriatic — with the full infrastructure of a five-star resort to support a three-day celebration. It suits couples who want their guests to arrive, settle in, and never need to leave the estate until the farewell brunch is done; who want the cuisine at their table to draw on one of Italy’s great culinary traditions; and who want a wedding setting that is so specifically, so irreplaceably of its place that no other destination in the world could have produced it. If that is the wedding you are dreaming of, we would love to help you plan it.

Let’s Plan Your Puglia Wedding

If Masseria San Domenico speaks to you, we would love to help you bring your luxury destination wedding in Italy to life.