Paragon 700, Ostuni: The Most Extraordinary Boutique Hotel in Puglia
Ostuni is a town that is visible from a long way off. Perched on a hilltop above the olive groves of Puglia, its whitewashed buildings and cathedral spire are visible for miles across the valley, dazzling in the summer heat. The White City, as it’s known, is one of the most beautiful places in Puglia, southern Italy. But there is one building that doesn't play by the rules. In a city almost entirely washed in white, the former Palazzo Rosso rises in deep terracotta red, as if it has decided, quite deliberately, to be different.
Paragon 700 hotel pool garden Ostuni Puglia
Paragon 700 is the kind of boutique hotel that makes you wonder why more hotels don't do this. It’s eccentric, deeply beautiful, and run by people who have genuine taste and a clear point of view. It’s also, in my experience, one of the most interesting places to stay in the whole of Italy, let alone Puglia.
The Building and Its History
The Palazzo Rosso dates back to the 18th-century and has lived many lives: a convent, a science institute, a police barracks, and the private residence of Ostuni's first mayor, Don Paolo Tanzarella. When the current owners, Ulrike Bauschke and designer Pascale Lauber, took it on, they spent two years restoring it with the kind of careful attention that only comes from people who genuinely care about what they have been trusted with.
Paragon 700 boutique hotel Ostuni Puglia exterior red palazzo
During the restoration, layers of paint were stripped back to reveal extraordinary Neoclassical frescoes depicting mythological animals, dragons and griffins, hidden for years beneath coats of later decoration. The dragon became the hotel's emblem. It suits the place perfectly.
‘Pascale Lauber's vision for the interiors is unlike anything I have encountered elsewhere.’
This is not the neutral luxury of a hotel interior designer working from a safe brief. It’s the considered, deeply personal result of someone who knows exactly what she is doing and has no interest in producing anything ordinary.
Rooms and Suites
There are 15 rooms and suites, divided between the main palazzo and a dépendance, and no two are alike. The rooms balance the building's original architecture, its imposing vaulted ceilings, its worn stone floors, its frescoed walls, with furniture and art that Pascale has collected from antique markets and fairs across the world. Pieces from Africa sit alongside pieces from India. Mid-century finds share space with objects of considerable age. The overall effect is cosmopolitan, layered, and full of things worth looking at properly.
The Paragon Suite is the standout and one of the most romantic suites in Europe. A stone arch behind the bed, a circular two-person bath sunk into French parquet flooring, high frescoed ceilings, and a private terrace that catches the afternoon sun. It’s genuinely one of the most beautiful hotel suites in Italy and utterly romantic. If you’re going to stay for the first time, book it.
Paragon 700 Paragon Suite vaulted ceiling frescoes Ostuni
Every room or suite comes with a welcome gift, a stocked minibar, natural organic bath and body products, and an iPad loaded with everything you need to know about the hotel and the surrounding region. There is no television as standard (hooray!), which says something rather good about the ethos of the place, though one can be arranged if required.
The Spa
Seven metres below the hotel, in what was once the palazzo's water cistern, is Spa 700. This is one of the most remarkable spa spaces I have come across anywhere. The underground setting is cool, still, and completely separate from the world above. It features a hydromassage basin, a steam bath, a chromotherapy spa shower, a treatment room for two, and a relaxation lounge lined entirely with Himalayan salt walls. Treatments range from Ayurvedic-inspired massage to Mediterranean body rituals, and there is something about being that far underground, in a space that old, that makes everything feel more restorative than usual.
In summer, some treatments move outdoors into the privacy of the garden. There are few better ways to spend a warm Puglian afternoon.
The Garden and Pool
Paragon 700 hotel pool garden Ostuni Puglia
The garden at Paragon 700 covers 1,700 square metres, which makes it the largest private garden in the centre of Ostuni. It contains the only hotel swimming pool in the heart of the city, a 15-metre pool set within lawns, herb beds, orange trees, and ancient stone. In a city as dense and vertical as Ostuni, this green space is genuinely extraordinary. You can spend an entire afternoon there without needing to go anywhere else.
Restaurant 700 and Lounge Bar 700
The restaurant is a serious proposition with Pasquale Palermo leading the team. Modern Apulian cuisine, well-executed, with a kitchen that takes its ingredients as seriously as the hotel takes its rooms. Puglia has one of the great food cultures of Italy and Restaurant 700 reflects that: local produce, regional dishes, done with intelligence and skill.
The Lounge Bar 700 has an 8.5-metre stone counter clad in antique Argentine tin and draws a crowd from Ostuni's social life as much as from the hotel itself. The in-house sommelier leads wine tastings in the palazzo's old olive oil storage room, working through the full breadth of Apulian viticulture, Primitivo, Negroamaro, Susumaniello, alongside cheeses, cured meats, and the hotel's own olive oil. It is exactly the kind of evening that reminds you why Puglia rewards slow travel.
The Experiences
What sets Paragon 700 apart from many boutique hotels is the quality and originality of its offerings beyond the rooms and suites. Private cruises on the hotel's own boat. Motorbike tours through the Valle d'Itria. Reserved sun loungers at P-Beach, the hotel's sister beach club on the coast at Specchiolla, a short drive away. Al fresco art classes in the garden. Open-air cinema evenings.
And then there is this (which I love!): if something in your room catches your eye, you can ask whether it’s for sale. The owners occasionally sell pieces from the collection. It’s the ultimate hotel souvenir!
Ostuni and the Surrounding Region
Paragon 700 is a five-minute walk from Ostuni's main square, making it an excellent base for exploring the White City itself, its cathedral, its winding medieval streets, and its exceptional restaurants. But Puglia, beyond Ostuni, is equally compelling. The trulli of Alberobello, the Baroque splendour of Lecce, the hilltop towns of Cisternino, Locorotondo and Martina Franca, the beaches of the Adriatic coast, all within easy reach.
The owners recommend visiting in the off-season, February to May or October to December, when the crowds are thinner and the heat is manageable. Having experienced Puglia in high summer, I would agree. The region in early spring, with the almond blossom out and the roads quiet, is one of the most beautiful things Italy has to offer.
A Note on Who This Hotel Is For
Paragon 700 is adults-only and does not allow children under 14. This is not incidental to the experience. It’s part of what makes this hotel experience work. The atmosphere is calm, considered, and genuinely adult in the best sense of the word. If you’re looking for a family hotel in Puglia, this is not it. If you’re looking for somewhere to slow down, eat very well, sleep in a room full of beautiful objects, and spend time in a part of Italy that has not yet been consumed by mass tourism, it’s one of the best choices you’ll make.
The Michelin Guide thinks so too. As does Condé Nast Traveller, which included it in its Hot List.
They are both right.
Looking for more extraordinary boutique hotels? Browse my recommendations or get in touch directly at lulu@lulusluxurylifestyle.uk