A private retreat in Puglia  ·  Albergo diffuso  ·  Manduria, Salento

Some places you visit.
This one, you belong to.

Book a room in the old town of Manduria, stay a while, and it slowly becomes home: the place where your friends are, even the ones you haven't met yet.

Scroll
15
The Place

Via Verdi, 15.
Manduria, Salento, Puglia.

A star-vaulted palazzo in a lane of Manduria's old town. The shade of a centenarian carob tree, the sound of nothing.

An albergo diffuso: you book a room, and it can be yours for three nights, for a month each year, or forever.

10 buildings3 suites at openingChristmas 2026Ionian Sea 20'Brindisi 35'
Via Verdi 15, the address that started it all
Est. 2026 Manduria
History

What it was, before

First the stables of a noble palazzo, then a workshop, a dairy, a party headquarters. Now, us. Next door, Marinelli: what remains of the oldest inn in Salento. We don't erase this history, we listen to it.

Each suite was once a whole house. People still stop in the lane: “My grandmother lived here. Will you show me? How wonderful to see it alive again. In bocca al lupo.”

And we can’t wait to meet you.

Our founding principle

We begin with the gymnásion.

Twenty-five centuries ago, the Greeks of these shores built one place for the body that trains, the mind that is nourished, the community that forms: the gymnásion. 15Dolcevita is born from that idea. We did not invent it: this land never forgot it.

The body, the mind, and the friends. In one place.

The Experience

Six spaces,
one feeling.

Two people. The fireplace, the bath, the garden. No schedule.

I

The Suites

Three suites in an eighteenth-century palazzo: star vaults, tufo, a private terrace. And the bath on the rooftop, the town below.

Via Verdi · Opening 2026
II

The Wellness Atelier

The spa, where the science of longevity works in silence. The open hamam on warm stone. The Liquidroom: a heated pool in a centuries-old cellar, sauna and sound.

Wellness · Hamam · Liquidroom
III

The Listening Bar

Inspired by Tokyo's kissa: vinyl, a sound you feel in your chest, a glass in hand. This is where everyone meets.

Vico Armirà · Community
IV

The Noble Kitchen

You cook with your new friends whatever you found at the market. Or you learn from the Salentine grandmothers the recipes never written down.

Cook together · F&B
V

The Gymnásion

The body that trains, in the same place as the mind and the friends. At first light, with method, never in a hurry.

Via Verdi · For guests of the suites
VI

The Officina

Nutrition and longevity on Piazza Vittorio Veneto. The one space open to everyone, in town.

Piazza Vittorio Veneto · Open to all
Ten houses, one resort

And one of them
could be yours. Forever.

Ten houses woven through the old town, one resort. You come as a member; one can become yours. Every home that finds its family brings the next one into the circle: a resort that grows with its community, and with Salento.

You belong here. And something here belongs to you.

The Interiors

Nothing here is
from a catalogue

Every chair, every lamp, every table was chosen, longed for, restored, dusted off, and given a second life.

Pieces with a life before yours, waiting for you to write the next chapter.

What Happens Behind the Walls

Longevity is not a destination.
It is a practice.

Deep connection. Great food. Clean air. Genuine intimacy. Rest. And, quietly integrated into every detail, the kind of science that changes how you feel, without ever asking you to notice.

Because la dolce vita was always about the second word. Vita. A long one, full to the brim. Happiness, for more years.

Morning

Breakfast when you feel like it. Under the carob tree. Espresso in silence. No one is waiting for you. The courtyard wakes on its own time.

Or, jump on a restored wooden boat for a morning swim in crystal waters along the coast.

Afternoon

The piazza is empty. The whole town has slipped into its afternoon siesta. You walk the vicoli alone: golden Salentine stone, cats in the shade, the white light of the South. Back at the suite, a cool bath in the shade. The Ionian breeze through the open window.

Or, champagne at the beach club, dancing barefoot on the sand, the Ionian sparkling like something from a film you once saw.

Evening

Long tables, shared food, no rush. Vinyl on the turntable. Conversation with someone you met that morning. The stars above the cortile.

Or, dress up, Primitivo spritz in hand, and join the local movida. See and be seen. Laugh too loud. Feel twenty years younger with twice the style.

Night

Your suite, the fireplace, the freestanding bath. Doing nothing in particular with the person you love. The kind of evening you'll remember in ten years.

Or, the Liquidroom. Bass through stone, warm water, half-light. The rooftop under the stars. The kind of night that makes you text your friends the next morning.

Where We Are

At the heart of the Salento

A 2,700-year-old town in the heart of Salento. Inland enough for silence, close enough to everything.

MAR IONIO MARE ADRIATICO Bari ✈ Taranto Brindisi ✈ Lecce Punta Prosciutto Gallipoli Otranto Alberobello Martina Franca Mesagne Nardò 15′ 35′ 40′ 25′ 90′ MANDURIA 15Dolcevita
The Territory

Salento is your backyard

Salento is around the corner.

Lecce
40 min · The Florence of the South

Baroque in golden pietra leccese.

Punta Prosciutto
20 min · Ionian Coast

White sand, Caribbean-blue water.

Salina dei Monaci
15 min · Nature Reserve

The pink lagoon of the flamingos.

Primitivo di Manduria
Walking distance · Wine Culture

The Primitivo vineyards, a walk from home.

Oria & Taranto
20-30 min · History & Culture

Medieval Oria and Taranto's MArTA museum.

Easy Access
35 min Brindisi · 90 min Bari

Direct flights from Europe's main hubs.

Ionian Sea Salento

White sand and Caribbean-blue water on the Ionian. Solitary coves inside the nature reserve. And in between, beach clubs with the energy of Mykonos and the soul of Salento.

The opening

The doors open
Christmas 2026

Three suites, this Christmas. The first fifty members will be there, and from them the circle begins. Tell us about yourselves now, and you could be among them.

Secure your place
Belonging

By invitation.
By affinity.

A small circle of people who share one idea: time well spent is the only luxury that matters. Not a programme. A tribe.

  • Priority access to the suites from day one
  • Monthly dinners, guests and cultural events
  • Reserved access to the Listening Bar, the Liquidroom and the Noble Kitchen
  • Member rates on treatments and rituals
  • First refusal when one of the houses comes up to own
Founding Members · First 50 Places

Join the
founding circle.

Tell us a little about yourselves. We'll be in touch, personally.

The Founders

Raised in Salento.
Shaped by the world.

Twenty-eight years between Asia and the world. Then the simplest and hardest choice: to come home, and build something that lasts.

One master above all: Temur Ugulava, founder of Adjara Group and Stamba. A forgotten building is not torn down: it is listened to.

Maria Pia Ancora, Co-founder
Co-Founder & Chief Vision

Maria Pia Ancora

Co-Founder & Chief Vision Officer

Environmental engineer, PhD at Tsinghua, Principal Urban Development Specialist at the Asian Development Bank, six languages. She is finishing saving the world, then she comes home to Manduria: we are keeping her seat warm.

Env. Eng. Trento PhD Tsinghua LSE ADB Principal 6 languages
Mario Dimitri, Co-founder
Co-Founder & CEO

Mario Dimitri

Co-Founder & Chief Executive

Raised in Manduria, Bocconi and a CEIBS MBA in Shanghai, 17 years building businesses across Greater China. Convinced that joy is the ultimate longevity protocol.

Bocconi CEIBS MBA · Shanghai 17 yrs Asia IT · EN · CN
Manduria by night

"In my most honest description, I am building an annexe of my own home to host friends. A beautiful place in a real Italian town, where you can walk through a living piazza, find a cool bath waiting in the shade, and spend the afternoon doing nothing in particular with the person you love. That, it turns out, is quite hard to find."

Maria Pia & Mario  ·  Co-founders, 15Dolcevita
The letter from the cantiere

One building site, one letter a month.

The vaults reappearing, the neighbours' stories, the Founding Members counter. Written by Maria Pia and Mario.

Request your stay →