Nathalie & Claudio's place is really beautiful, very original, clearly not conceived as a machine to make money with tourists but as a personal hide-away which they are happy to share with other travelers when they themselves are not there. It's made with a lot of love for details, very atypical with a good price. In this sense, it corresponds to the original idea of AirBnB! All the information about things that some people found bothersome (many staircases - including to go to the toilet, not many doors to separate spaces, the shower next to the kitchen, etc.) are stated very clearly in the description. To be honest: While they may be more problematic when you are traveling with someone not close to you, I actually liked them because they are so a-typical. Isn't it kind of cool to see your partner shower while you have breakfast?
So don't expect a neutral or even sterile apartment, but a cosy place with a history, carefully renovated, with many details and created with a lot of love. We for our part loved it and would be happy to stay there any time again!
Riccardo who checked us in was extremely friendly, layed back, helpful and available, gave us great tips for what beaches to go to, where to eat, etc. The most beautiful place to swim is the Il Ciolo in Gagliano del Capo itself. It's certainly one of the most spectacular places to swim in Puglia (and I say this after having traveled from Gargano all the way down to Gagliano) - at least for those who don't consider sand and empty water the ideal (and for those who do there are many options Riccardo will give you). There's free parking nearby - or you can take the 900 metres / 30 minutes downhill walk from the apartment (but will have to walk up again, as Claudia reminds you). You'll lay in a valley on the rocks and we feel that it's more appropriate for swimming in the morning before hitting the road or in the early evening than to chill all day. To fully appreciate Il Ciolo, you should definitely bring some goggles made for looking at the beauties under water! It was by far the most interesting underwater experience - with a cave you can easily swim into and which has rich underwater vegetation - we had in Puglia. Unfortunately all the snorkling tours to other caves were cancelled while we were there because the weather forecast was bad - even though the weather in the end never turned bad.
The village is small and homey, with a lot of locals. We ate pizza at Lumière - which is one of the three pizzerias Riccardo recommended to us. It just seemed the nicest in terms of how it looked. Don't expect fanciness in any of the pizzerias in Gagliano, but rather plastic chairs and decent pizzas starting at 5 Euros.
For daytrips we really loved Gallipoli. Together with Ostuni, it was the favorite city of our whole trip. Also very close by is the Finibus Terrae basilica which is a spiritual place on the tip where the Ionian and Adriatic seas meet.