Why take a holiday in Lecce? Simple: carving out few days of well-being in the city of baroque, of ancient traditions and crystal clear sea, means taking a regenerating break and then returning to everyday life full of vitality.
Lecce is now famous for its beauty. It is the sun that decides the colors of this city, capital of the easternmost province of Italy, placed halfway between the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic: the sparkle of light on the Lecce stone, used to build palaces, churches and monuments which stand out in the blue of the Salento sky, is the detail that arousespa enchantment and wonder in the eyes of those who visit the city.
Rooftop
The city is young, vital and safe, and this guarantees those who live there and those who visit, to fall in love with it day after day. Lecce strikes in the morning, with its unpredictable glow, but also bewitches in the evening, thanks to a skillful lighting that gives it even more luster and romance.
Let yourself be conquered by the historic center of Lecce
Taking a holiday in Lecce means abandoning yourself to this Apulian town. The historic center is a decidedly a welcoming place, almost intimate, while offering an infinity of monuments to admire and visit: from the Roman amphitheater to the Basilica of Santa Croce, to the Church of San Matteo or the Palazzo della Prefettura, from the ancient Greek theater to the elegant Apollo Theater, recently renovated. There are also many bars and restaurants, each one particular and picturesque. They fill the streets in basolato under churches full of figures and baroque ornaments. The most modern area of the city offers an airier panorama: wide and well-kept streets, full of elegant shops, branch off from the large Piazza Trecentomila (also called Piazza Mazzini in honor of the architect who designed it) embellished by an imposing fountain that is the fulcrum of the new city.
Lecce seduces anyone who visits it both for its architectural beauty and for its elegance, its energy and the magic that fascinates and involves anyone who walks through its streets. It is one of those cities where you immediately feel at home, one of those places that although visited for holidays easily raises the question “could I live here?”. And this is how especially in the last ten years Lecce has welcomed many foreigners who have fallen in love at first sight and who have chosen it to live there.
Lecce: all the best of Salento
Often those who come to Salento for the first time choose to stay on the coast and experience one of the most beautiful seas in Italy, Adriatic or Ionian. Those who return to Salento, as an expert traveler, usually choose Lecce for their holiday; its position equidistant from the two seas allows you to enjoy the city in the evening and be able to visit a different sea and place every day.
Salento offers a unique coastal panorama in the world: the sea and the coast changes every 15 km, passing from white beaches with shallow and crystal-clear water to expanses of gold-colored sand with emerald backdrops, from high walls of dark rocks and blue water, to uncontaminated and wild places where nature plunges into the turquoise sea. Exploring the beaches of Salento offers different holidays in a single trip and those who choose Lecce will experience the sea and the pleasures of this land just like the locals.
Paraphrasing the famous African proverb, it can be said that every day a Salento holidaymaker gets up and knows that he will have to travel kilometers to enjoy the sea and the most beautiful sun: those who live in Lecce choose the “perfect” sea every day. Everyone in Salento knows how to read the winds and how they choose which of the coasts would be the best: one day you go to the Ionian Sea, the following day, if the wind changes, you go to the Adriatic. The Tramontana, the wind from the North, blows on the Salento’s Ionian coast covering the beaches from Gallipoli to Manduria or the rocky shores between Castro and Santa Maria di Leuca. The Scirocco, the wind from the South instead, pushes the people from Lecce toward the Adriatic Sea, in the forty kilometers from San Cataldo to Otranto, where nature itself spreads on the east coast.
To live an experience from Salento and understand how the inhabitants of this wonderful land live, you have to be guided by one of them: Geltrude and Palazzo Guido are the perfect reference points. Those who come on holiday to Lecce and choose the suites of Palazzo Guido give themselves a stay dedicated to comfort, where everything is designed for an unforgettable experience as well as luxury: Geltrude dedicates her day to her guests, helping them in choosing the best places to visit or restaurants and events to try or even the most beautiful seas and countries side to explore. This is how the magic of Salento is accomplished where you immediately feel at home and before leaving you are already thinking about when to return.