Palazzo Luce

What the property says

Palazzo Luce works more like a borrowed house than a hotel. It is a 14th-century building in the old part of Lecce, and its owners call it the first art and design house museum. The idea belongs to a collector, Anna Maria Enselmi, who brought designers, artists, architects and gallery owners into the building.

Gio Ponti is the thread through it. Enselmi has long collected his furniture, and the interiors take his Mediterranean spirit as a starting point. Around him sit pieces by Ettore Sottsass, Carlo Mollino, Osvaldo Borsani and Konstantin Grcic, and works by artists including William Kentridge and Thomas Ruff.

If you read design magazines for pleasure, this is the stay on the Edit built for you. If a hotel means a reception desk and room service to you, read the next section before you request a quote.

The rooms

The rooms page names seven rooms and suites: Luce, Maria d’Enghien, Fanciullino, Paravento, Blue Ponti, Passaggi and Rosso Ponti. Luce is the one with full details: 46.8 m², a maximum of two guests, a goose-down mattress topper, a brass desk by Storage Associati and Gio Ponti Superleggera chairs. Its original terracotta floor and warm Lecce stone show the palazzo’s aristocratic past.

The page gives no sizes for the other six, such as Blue Ponti and Rosso Ponti. Luce lists breakfast, daily housekeeping with evening turndown and bath products by Biologique Recherche. The bathroom is in typical earthenware with a bathtub, and the room has Wi-Fi and satellite TV.

Food and drink

Breakfast is built on zero-mile products with Leccese pastries, fresh fruit and local bread, and it is served in a breakfast room that looks onto the garden. The tables and the Richard Ginori porcelain were made for the house.

Dinner is by reservation in a salon beside the De Secly library, around a nineteenth-century majolica table that seats eight. One experience pairs a gourmet menu with a screening of the film about the house. Another is a cooking session in the palace kitchen.

The Gamper Bar was designed by Martino Gamper for the palazzo. It serves cocktails from late afternoon until midnight, under a chandelier that belongs to the palace.

The setting

The house is in Lecce’s ancient center, on Via del Palazzo dei Conti di Lecce. Its terrace has a swimming pool with hand-painted ceramics in shades of green, and a lounge for an aperitivo. The Mediterranean garden opens onto a view of the Roman Theatre.

Wellness sits on the ground floor. The Pilates Suite is under old vaulted ceilings, with Stott Pilates equipment, a massage room and treatments with Biologique Recherche products.

The sea is elsewhere. Guests of Palazzo Luce can use Villa Jolanda in Castro Marina, a 19th-century villa on the Adriatic coast furnished with Sottsass and Memphis pieces, and a boat tour leaves from the port of Castro Marina.

Good to know

• The formula on offer is a buyout for 4, 8 or 12 people, with a minimum of 2 nights. Write to the house for a tailored proposal.
• The house is also offered for shootings, events and dinner experiences.
• Luce takes a maximum of two guests.
• Villa Jolanda, in Castro Marina, is offered as a seaside retreat for Palazzo Luce guests. Ask about terms.
• The Gamper Bar is open from late afternoon until midnight.
• The concierge builds extra experiences, such as a candlelit performance in the library or a dinner with a screening of the film about the house.
• Worth asking the property: pets, children, opening months and weddings.
• Price band: 5 of 5 (estimated: no official rate found).

Who it suits, and who should look elsewhere

It suits a group of friends or one large family that wants an entire art-filled palazzo in Lecce to itself for a few days. You plan with the house rather than click a booking button. The house is let whole, which also fits a shoot or an event.

Look elsewhere if you want a normal hotel with a lobby, a restaurant and a spa schedule. Patria Palace is an 18th-century palazzo with a gourmet restaurant. For something smaller and in a lower price band, Mantatelurè is a 16th-century residence with six rooms.

Getting there

The palazzo is in Lecce, in Lecce and the North Salento coast, and from the old center you can reach most of the city on foot.

A car helps for the Adriatic coast, Castro and the rest of the Salento. The house takes requests by email or phone, so agree on arrival details, parking and any transfers when you confirm the proposal. The boat tour out of Castro Marina is offered to guests of Palazzo Luce and of Villa Jolanda who extend their stay.