Despite being connected to the rest of the country by land, the area feels more like an island, with the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Adriatic to the east. At Santa Maria di Leuca, the Land’s End of southeast Italy, the two bodies of water come together.

This part of the country has been subject to many an invasion, and the castles that dot the coastline were the line of defense against the Saracens, Normans, Turks and Spanish who sometimes briefly dominated here. Now it’s a gentler conquest, a new generation of hotels, restaurants, bars and beach clubs, opened by foreigners seduced by the area, Pugliese looking to put their region on the map, and Italians from other parts of the country wishing to create a new life close to the sea.

Athena McAlpine was one of the first hoteliers to take the plunge, moving here in 2002 after living in London for many years. She and her husband, Alistair, opened the Convento di Santa Maria di Costantinopoli in Marittima di Diso, transforming a former Franciscan monastery’s cloister and monks’ cells into a one-of-a-kind hideaway with a museum-worthy collection of art and artifacts (doubles from 432 euros or about $440). Rob Potters, from Australia, created Masseria Trapanà after visiting the area from Tuscany where he was a hotel consultant. He resuscitated a derelict building just north of Lecce that had not been lived in for 200 years into a light-filled luxury resort (doubles from 290 euros).