Masseria Cervarolo, Ostuni
Masseria Cervarolo, Ostuni
Masseria Cervarolo is a peaceful hotel in the middle of the countryside in Apulia, carefully restored in by the Avellino and the Cippone family.
We stand guard over a little white hamlet lying on a hill, where drystone walls play hide and seek with Mediterranean scrubs and ropes of olive trees and prickly pears. Visitors are enchanted by nature’s contrasting, yet harmonious, play of colors.
There is more than one legend still flourishing about the land around the Masseria Cervarolo, the Cervarolo farming estate. The original name was “Cervarulo”, referring back to far-distant times when deer (cervi) roamed the area. Archaeological finds in the form of fragments of deer bones bear witness to their presence in this once densely wooded area, interspersed with brush and rocks.
This was where the Romans bred the imposing Murgia horse, the only autochthonous race that still exists in Italy, praised in the 13th century by Federico II for their unique qualities.
Spring arrives early here. They say the farmers from the neighboring towns used to come to this place to see with their own eyes that winter was really over. They observed the colors of the countryside, the soft green of sprouting grass, the buds on the trees, lizards lazing in the sun on drystone walls, and bees busily gathering nectar.
With renewed energy, they then returned to their fields, still lying fallow. The many ex-votos in the little church of the Masseria, left untouched by pilgrims over several centuries, are also symbols of this irrepressible trust and faith in the future.