Cacti cast spiked shadows across the courtyard of this coolly modern enclave in Puglia. It’s all white walls and sharp angles as the backdrop to simple accents—a woven lantern, a wire chair—for a pared-down look straight out of a design magazine. Drive 2 minutes to the historic architecture and town square in Gagliano del Capo. There are a few other towns within a 10-minute drive, as well as the Caves of Vedusella, where turquoise water washes against towering rock formations. The space The heart of this villa is actually outside, in a courtyard with a swimming pool, a built-in barbecue, and alfresco dining for 12 beneath a woven pergola, where the sunlight and shadows are always shifting. Follow the steps up the tower to views over the town to the sea and, after sunset, switch on the gas fireplace. Architect Lorenzo Grifantini designed the house to echo other buildings nearby, with the courtyard mimicking those of the area’s traditional homes and a tower to match the one rising above a church. Inside, however, the spare decor lets light flow across the floor, interrupted only by built-in sofas in the living room, the table in the dining room, and an island in the fully equipped kitchen. The residence is a 2-minute drive from the center of Gagliano del Capo, a quiet village with an interesting mix of architecture that comes to life for an annual art exhibition. Other things to note La Torre Bianca was recently recognized as one of the National In/Architecture Award Winners for 2020. The prize was launched by INARCH, the Italian architectural board for the best building built in Italy in the least five years, who said of La Torre Bianca, it "expresses an extraordinary ability to insert into a historical context strongly characterized by the small town of Gagliano del Capo... While affirming the contemporaneity of language and typological solutions, the architecture does not yield to easy camouflage and banal contextualism but expresses its contemporaneity with quality." Registration Details IT075028C200063079