Beb and Breakfast Tenuta Stevens - Camere e Suite per tue Vacanze nel Salento!
Menù
  • Giardino Bed & Breakfast

    The garden

  • Giardino Bed & Breakfast
  • Giardino salento Bed & Breakfast
  • Giardino Salento Bed & Breakfast
  • Villa Bed & Breakfast
  • Villa Bed & Breakfast
  • Villa Bed & Breakfast
  • Villa Bed & Breakfast

    Structure

  • Villa Bed & Breakfast
  • Villa Bed & Breakfast
  • Villa Bed & Breakfast
  • Villa Bed & Breakfast
  • Piscina Bed & Breakfast

    Swimming Pool

  • Piscina Bed & Breakfast

LA VILLA

The Villa rises up in the suburbs of Sannicola (LE), not too far from Gallipoli in the hinterland of Salento. It is the ideal place for relaxing moments thanks to the big park which surrounds the villa, full of every kind of plant and an extended citrus grove. A walk under the ancient arcade which leads till the breakfast gazebo recall past ages which removes the everyday stress and anxiety.

For leisure time, on summer, Tenuta Stevens is provided with a big swimming pool which allows to adults and children to enjoy themselves in company or simply to sunbathe far away from the chaos of the beaches, so it offers everything you want for a comfortable and carefree stay.

A Little bit of History of Salento

Sannicola was a community of Gallipoli and had an economy similar to the one of the city until 1908.From 17th until 19th century Gallipoli was the Mediterranean capital of the lamp oil, whose purity was due to the stone of the tanks in which it was kept, the "carparo" of the hypogeal olive oil mills. In the harbor you could find merchants and consuls, especially from the United Kingdom. London controlled the trade of the lamp oil and in Gallipoli there was a British vice-consul. This is the reason why Steven's family lived here was because it had the consulate during three generations. Nesters and merchants from Gallipoli used to pass their holidays in the nearby countryside in the so called "casini", comfortable and sometimes luxurious villas were they lived from May till October, the harvest season. The countryside in Gallipoli was divided in different contradas, the Cuti's one was where Tenuta Stevens was placed, in the second half of 18th century was one of the most populated. In that period the countryside of Sannicola was called under the Greek name of Rodogallo (the place of the beautiful roses).

Sofia Stevens (1845-1876)

Sofia Stevens was born in 1845 in Gallipoli and was Henry Stevens' daughter, his father was the British vice-consul in Gallipoli, he remained in office till 1867 when he died. Even her grandfather Richard had been vice-consul from 1829 till 1853. While Sofia's mother was a French-Neapolitan noblewoman: Carolina Auverny. Sofia was the second of five children (three girls and two boys), first she was educated in Galatina and then, when she became 11 years old, she went to Naples where she learnt poetry and languages from the teacher Federico Villani. When she was 15 years old she went back to Gallipoli and her European tour began, like every rich child did at that time. She travelled with her uncle Giovanni Auverny for two years: Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Zurich, Munich, Copenhagen etc. She improved her classical studies and learnt, in addition to Italian, French, English, Spanish and German. When she came back to Gallipoli she began to write and when her father died (she was 22), moved to Naples with her whole family. Here she married loveless Settimio Bartocci. The couple lived in Gallipoli and Naples, depending on the season, till a breast cancer was diagnosed to Sofia in 1873 (she was only 28). For this reason she moved permanently to Naples. She won't see Gallipoli ever more. She had a surgery three years later and died on 9 August 1976 when she was 31. She died full of regret due to an unhappy love and with her Gallipoli in the heart.

Lamp oil and Gallipoli

From the begin of the 16th century Gallipoli was the main trade city for oils, for this reason the administration put a tax on the oil that came from the whole county. These oils weren't used for cooking; a fatty oil was produced and this one didn't create any smoke, it was used to enlighten the big European cities such as London, Paris, Berlin, Wien, Stockholm, Oslo, Amsterdam etc. They used oil from Salento to light up the streets until 19th century. The oil was produced in the underground, where you had the best humidity and cool conditions for keeping and exporting it. In Gallipoli there were 35 hypogeal mills which worked from the end of September till the end of April, two of them were restored and now tourists can visit them: the one of Palazzo Briganti (in via Angeli) and the one of Palazzo Acugna-Granafei (in via A. de Pace). During this production nothing was thrown away, the by-product from the olives was used to create "castile soap".

Location

Tenuta Stevens rises up in the suburbs of Sannicola, 12 km from Gallipoli and 8 km from the beautiful Lido Pizzo beach. Nearby you can find every kind of shop, recreation ground for children, restaurants where you can taste local delicacies, parks, pharmacy and first aid.