Masseria Alchimia wedding

Alchimia sits in the olive country behind Savelletri, ten minutes from the coast and half an hour from Ostuni, in the same stretch of Puglia as the great masserie but at a different scale entirely. It is small, contemporary inside its old stone, and run by its Swiss owner rather than by a hotel group, which shows in how precisely everything is written down.

The wedding day here has a fixed geography and it works: vows in the garden, aperitivo on the panoramic terrace, dinner in the Apulian piazza under the olive trees and strings of lights, and then the party underground.

Four spaces, used in order, and a couple who likes the sequence will like the venue.

Where the ceremony happens, among olives and dry-stone walls, with the masseria behind. Civil and symbolic ceremonies are both held here.

The aperitivo space, looking out over the countryside towards the sea, and where the starters buffet is laid if the evening is fine.

The dinner space: a paved square among ancient olive trees, lit with Apulian lights, seating the full party. This is what the photographs are of and it is the reason to come.

A former olive mill cut down into the rock, which does two jobs. It is one of the two wet-weather plans, seating up to 125, and it is where the party goes after midnight, when the outdoor music has to stop and the grotto has no curfew at all.

A Moroccan-style tent of 300 square metres on a wooden floor, with dimmable fairy lights, kept ready for a last-minute decision. It takes 100. For a larger party a second tent is reserved, and the balance on it is only paid if it actually rains, which is the fairest wet-weather arrangement in this set.

A Masseria Alchimia wedding starts from €100,000 and lands near €200,000 all-in for 60 to 125 guests.

The venue, the ceremony space, all seven rooms for up to twenty guests, the marquee and the grotto as the two wet-weather plans, and the grotto again for the after party. The rate moves with the number of nights, from one to three, and with whether the wedding falls midweek or at the weekend. Two nights is the minimum, and a day-only rental is possible on selected dates with check-in from four in the afternoon.

Food and drink must come from the masseria’s own catering partners. Every other supplier is suggested rather than required, which is the reverse of the usual Puglian arrangement: most venues tie you to a florist list and cook the food themselves. Here the kitchen is fixed and the design is free.

The catering and the open bar, quoted per head by the chosen partner; the flowers; the music and its licence; the photography; the transfers; and the day-of coordination, which the masseria requires either from one of its recommended planners or from a wedding manager engaged for the day.

Seven rooms, four doubles and three suites, sleeping twenty between them. Each has a kitchenette, air conditioning and a safe, and breakfast is taken at the neighbouring organic farm four minutes’ walk away.

Twenty beds is few, but the answer here is better than usual: the masseria counts 75 further beds in bed-and-breakfasts within walking distance. A hundred guests can therefore sleep near enough to walk home, which is a different proposition from the coach operations most Puglian weddings require. There is free parking for seventy cars for everyone else.

The masseria is at Contrada Fascianello, inland of Savelletri in the comune of Fasano, with olive groves and trulli country around it.

Savelletri and the sea are 10 minutes, Monopoli 16, Alberobello and the trulli 24, Ostuni 28 and Polignano a Mare 21. This is the most usefully placed corner of Puglia for the days either side of a wedding.

Brindisi is 46 minutes and Bari an hour, so both are usable and the flight options are wide.

The grotto is the reason this venue punches above its size. Midnight outdoors is the ordinary Puglian limit and most venues leave you negotiating; here the party simply moves down into the rock and stops when the guests do. Paired with 75 walkable beds, it means nobody is watching a clock or a coach.

The wet-weather arrangement is the second thing, and it is unusually fair.

A marquee is kept standing and ready for a last-minute call, and for a party too large for it a second tent is reserved with the balance payable only if it rains. Almost everywhere else a marquee is booked months ahead and paid for whatever the sky does. We always take the reservation here rather than gambling, because it costs almost nothing to hold.

The thing to weigh is the catering. Being tied to the masseria’s partners for food and drink is a real constraint, and a couple with a chef in mind cannot bring one. In exchange every other supplier is theirs to choose, which for most couples is the better half of the bargain.

Magic Day plans weddings at Masseria Alchimia from the first conversation to the final farewell. That means the dates and the nights the package runs to, the civil ceremony and what the comune of Fasano requires, the choice of catering partner and the menu with them, the marquee reservation and when it is called, the seventy-five beds nearby and who goes in which, and the transfers from Brindisi and Bari.

We have worked across Puglia since the Bari office opened in 2014, and this corner behind Savelletri is the busiest part of it. Tell us the dates you are considering and how many people, and we will tell you what the package and the catering come to.