Boutique hotel La Fiermontina Luxury Home is an homage to Antonia Fiermonte and the two artists who loved her. The garden shares its ancient city walls with Lecce

Lecce, the most celebrated city in Puglia, comes at you unexpectedly, like many of Italy’s gems. You drive past vineyards and olive groves, go through some unremarkable suburbs and then suddenly you are faced with a wall and gate of Roman origin. Once inside, the streets shrink and are cobbled; but what looks like a cluster of ancient buildings also houses more treasures within.

One of these is La Fiermontina Luxury Home, the city’s most celebrated hotel, set around a garden and olive grove within the ancient walls. The owners have just opened a new property, the Fiermonte Museum, 50 metres away down a quiet cobbled street.

All rooms and suites of La Fiermontina Luxury Home are inspired by traditional local buildings and are full of character, decorated with vintage and high-end antique pieces

Turn  right at the old lady who spends her days sewing, sitting on a chair on the cobbles, through a latticed iron gate, and you enter into a bijou courtyard, surrounded by lush trees – you could pick your own loquats certain times of the year.

Under a newly built staircase – the whole construction is new out of old sit two sculptures, and the art theme continues when you walk through the first floor terrace and slide the glass doors open, to be greeted by an array of sculptures and paintings.

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Our room had high, vaulted ceilings, showcase artworks and furnishings – the Fiermontina team are masters at creating contemporary art and design elegance out of historic landmarks.

The artworks around La Fiermontina Luxury Home are part of the carefully selected collection, and the architecture tells a story of the family’s ancestors and the country’s history

The Suite Nocturne of the Fiermonte Museum is covered in blue tones and music-themed

Ceilings and curtains were a deep blue, the window looking out onto a lush tropical treescape (all this within the old town). It was utterly peaceful, silent both at night and during the way, yet a couple of minutes stroll along the cobbles takes you into the heart of the old town.

Read more: Artists In Conversation: Michelangelo Pistoletto and Pascale Marthine Tayou with Maryam Eisler

The Fiermonte Museum consists of works from the Fiermonte family’s private collection, taking visitors on a kaleidoscopic journey through 20th-century art

This really is a Museum with rooms: you are given tickets, key card access and a lantern so you can access the museum in the same building at night. And then have breakfast in the courtyard, with an utterly bijou buffet served by your own staff – it feels like staying in a private home, more than a hotel.

We had dinner on our last night at the Zephyr restaurant.

www.lafiermontinacollection.com

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