Palazzo Bozzi Corso – Lecce, Italy
An aristocratic 18th-century palazzo where Baroque grandeur meets modern art, bold colour and intimate hospitality.
Why DNA Hotels Loves It
● A 1775 palazzo in the historic heart of Lecce, with soaring ceilings, stucco work, marble fireplaces and grand salons preserved as part of the experience.
● A striking mix of Gio Ponti, Ettore Sottsass and Le Corbusier with a deeply personal family collection of 20th-century art.
● Just 10 suites, giving the property the intimacy of a private residence rather than the formality of a grand hotel.
A Second Chapter in Lecce
After La Fiermontina, siblings Antonia and Giacomo-Fouad Filali turned their attention to another extraordinary Lecce address. Palazzo Bozzi Corso occupies an aristocratic residence dating from 1775, hidden within the historic centre only a short walk from the Duomo, Basilica di Santa Croce and Piazza Sant’Oronzo. Where La Fiermontina feels like an urban masseria hidden behind stone walls, Palazzo Bozzi Corso is unapologetically palatial. High ceilings, enfilades of salons, decorative plasterwork, marble fireplaces and parquet floors create the architectural drama. Yet the hotel avoids becoming a period piece. Its real character comes from what has been placed inside those historic rooms.
Baroque Meets Modernism
French designers Charles Philippe and Christophe approached the interiors with restraint, allowing the building’s proportions and architectural details to remain dominant. Against that classical backdrop appear some of the great names of 20th-century design. Le Corbusier Escargot lamps, furniture by Gio Ponti and pieces by Ettore Sottsass sit beneath ornate ceilings and beside old fireplaces. Then comes the colour. Deep teal, plum, green, powder blue and rose give individual rooms very different personalities. Long cream curtains soften the scale of the spaces, while sculptural lighting and modern furniture prevent the palazzo from feeling overly ceremonial. It is a confident combination: grand without being stuffy, decorative without becoming theatrical.
A Family Collection You Can Sleep In
The art at Palazzo Bozzi Corso is inseparable from the Filali family’s history. Works by sculptors René Letourneur and Jacques Zwobada connect directly to Antonia Fiermonte, the family’s celebrated artist and muse. Watercolours by Fernand Léger, photographs, sculpture and personal memorabilia extend the story. Some suites become almost miniature exhibitions. The Fernand Léger Suite incorporates works by the French modernist, while the exuberant John & Yoko Suite draws on the family’s connection with Yoko Ono. Elsewhere, the Lady Astor Suite recalls the glamorous life of Enzo Fiermonte, the Italian boxer and actor who married American heiress Lady Astor. The result is not generic hotel curation. It feels closer to entering a private family archive in which art, romance, celebrity and design overlap.
Ten Suites, Ten Personalities
There are only ten suites, and each is markedly different. The grandest Aristocratic Suites make the most of the palazzo’s scale, with tall windows, polished parquet floors, historic fireplaces and elaborate ceilings. Other rooms are deliberately more playful. Wellness suites add freestanding baths, hydro-massage showers or private saunas without disrupting the historic architecture. Upstairs, rooms open towards the rooftop terrace and the rooftops of Lecce beyond. It is this variety that gives Palazzo Bozzi Corso much of its charm: there is no standard hotel-room template imposed on the building. The architecture decides the room.
A Palazzo Made for Lingering
Despite its formal bones, the hotel is filled with places designed simply for spending time. There is a palm-shaded courtyard, a library, salons, a games room and the vaulted Relaxarium with its small indoor pool. Above it all, the rooftop terrace introduces an entirely different mood. A petite pool, loungers and views across Lecce’s ochre rooftops turn the roof into a private escape above the Baroque city. Guests can also use the larger pool and olive garden at nearby sister property La Fiermontina, only a few minutes away. Together, the two hotels function almost like complementary halves of the same story.
Lecce Beyond the Door
One of Palazzo Bozzi Corso’s greatest advantages is that the city begins immediately outside. The theatrical stone carvings of Santa Croce, Piazza Sant’Oronzo, the Roman amphitheatre and the honey-coloured streets of old Lecce are all within easy walking distance. Restaurants, wine bars and small shops fill the surrounding lanes. Yet once inside the palazzo’s courtyard, the city recedes remarkably quickly. That balance — full immersion in Lecce with the privacy of a noble residence — gives the hotel much of its appeal.
Art, Food and Southern Ritual
Breakfast leans proudly Puglian, with local cheeses, cured meats, fruit, pastries and pasticciotto. Rather than operating as a conventional restaurant hotel, Palazzo Bozzi Corso stages occasional dinners and culinary evenings in its courtyard and garden. Some are built around Salento traditions, others around music or dance. Guests can also dine at Zéphyr at La Fiermontina. Nearby, the family’s art collection continues at the Fiermonte Museum, where the extraordinary relationships between Antonia Fiermonte, Letourneur and Zwobada add another layer to the story already visible inside the hotel.
Why It Works
Palazzo Bozzi Corso could easily have become another beautiful historic hotel filled with respectable antiques. Instead, the Filali family allowed the building to become something much more personal. Baroque architecture provides the stage. Modernist furniture introduces tension. Strong colour brings energy. And the family’s art collection supplies the emotional narrative. The result feels unmistakably Italian but never conventional. It is Lecce through the eyes of collectors rather than hoteliers — intimate, cultured, glamorous and just eccentric enough to be memorable.
