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Casina Pozzillo stands on a plot of about 26,000 square meters, mostly olive grove, in an area known as "Pezza di Mare" or "Pezza Termiti". Its architectural style is typical of the late-19th-century Apulian agricultural landscape and of the coastal "villa-casina" buildings described in PPTR regional guidelines.
The property was born as a rural house, probably built in the mid-1800s, with one vaulted floor above ground, a small wood shed/stable, water cisterns and an adjacent walled citrus garden. Historical research (donation deed and will) shows that by the end of the 1800s it belonged to the Pansini family, then passed as dowry to Antonia Pansini who married Dr. Matteo Minervini. He promoted the major renovation, including the raised first floor in Liberty/Deco style, as confirmed by the 1912 date and monogram on the window architrave.
The facades were embellished with stringcourses, corner decorative elements typical of the time, and openings framed with stone jambs and molded cornices.
Inside, the ground floor originally had stone slab paving and a stone staircase (stolen in the 1990s during abandonment). Upstairs, according to the style of the period, cement tiles by the De Lillo brothers were installed.
That same period also saw the construction of the secondary room next to the garden, used as storage, and probably of a larger cistern.
After the 1912 intervention, the building took on the appearance of a Villa-Casina, a typical holiday residence for the bourgeoisie. The two building volumes are linked by a walled garden enclosed by a high tuff wall.
The property is in a central position, with the avenue axis aligned with the Pozzillo local road from which it is accessed. In addition to the structures adjacent to the main building, there is a service lane, perimeter dry-stone walls, and an ancient barrel-vaulted cistern.
In the 1980s the property passed to heir Eng. Corrado Minervini and then to his sister Vincenza Rita Minervini Del Vescovo. In the 1990s, after a period of abandonment and deterioration, it was sold and purchased by Marino La Forgia, who began restoring the estate. To protect the sea-facing olive grove, the process for inclusion among the "Monumental Olive Trees of Puglia" was launched and approved by Regional Council resolution no. 501 of April 19, 2016, followed by restoration works on the building.
Today, Villa-Casina Pozzillo lies within the protected area of Molfetta under landscape restrictions (Legislative Decree 42/2004), included in the Regional Landscape Plan of Puglia and declared of notable public interest as part of the coastal zone south of Bisceglie (validation: March 2019). It is also inside the protected wildlife oasis Torre Calderina (DPRG no. 1061, March 23, 1983), characterized by Mediterranean scrub vegetation, numerous bird and insect species, and rich marine fauna.
