Palazzo Bozzi Corso by La Fiermontina

Palazzo Bozzi Corso by La Fiermontina

Behind an eighteenth-century façade on Via Umberto I, ten suites open onto a private garden and a rooftop pool that looks out over Lecce's bell towers and baroque rooftops, close enough to the Basilica of Santa Croce and Piazza Sant'Oronzo to reach on foot. The building dates to 1775 and is dedicated to the memory of Enzo Fiermonte, the boxer whose photographs from the 1920s and 30s wallpaper Bar Enzo; that history shows in details other palazzo conversions in Puglia do not have, rooms furnished with pieces by Sottsass, Gio Ponti, Mackintosh and Le Corbusier, and walls hung with work by Zwobada, Letourneur and Léger. A wellness area with a hot tub and massage room sits alongside a gym, and breakfast is served in the suite rather than a communal room. With only ten suites, this is a hotel for travelers who want a historic-center address on a small, personal scale rather than a big hotel; it suits families less well, given the extra bed runs to 200 euros a night. Pets stay for a flat 30 euros, a car from the airport can be arranged for 110 euros one way, and check-in runs from 3:30pm, check-out by 11am, with a credit card held for incidentals. What lingers is not the pool or the garden but the sense of staying inside someone's private art collection, in rooms built two and a half centuries ago. Ten suites inside a 1775 palazzo in central Lecce, with a rooftop pool over the bell towers and furniture by Sottsass, Gio Ponti and Le Corbusier. Good for a couple or a solo stay close to the Basilica of Santa Croce, less so for families, given the 200-euro extra-bed fee.