La Fiermontina Luxury Home

In Lecce, the Baroque jewel of the Salentine peninsula, a family of hoteliers pays tribute to their grandmother, Antonia Fiermonte, with a luxurious little hotel bearing her name. The estate on which La Fiermontina Luxury Home stands can trace its roots to the 16th century, and the house itself to the 17th. It’s been substantially rebuilt, however, with the help of the local architect Antonio Annicchiarico; what stands here today is a tribute to the arches and vaults of the classic Pugliese masseria, but a thoroughly modern one.

The family is well-connected in the Italian art world — Antonia was a talented artist in her own right — and La Fiermontina’s interiors are full of paintings, photographs, and sculptures, not to mention contemporary Italian design furniture. In its refinement the experience belies the notion of Italy’s south as rustic and provincial; these rooms are as elegant and as plush as anything in the Republic.

Zèphyr, the restaurant, serves fine modern Puglian fare surrounded by the courtyard’s citrus groves. And La Fiermontina never misses a chance to celebrate the local traditions, offering everything from on-site cooking classes to tours of the city of Lecce and the greater Salentine peninsula.