A selection of carefully curated experiences makes your stay at Palazzo Luce unique. You can find some of these experiences listed below, and in addition, our concierge is also available to provide personalized recommendations to cater to your needs.
A selection of carefully curated experiences makes your stay at Palazzo Luce unique. You can find some of these experiences listed below, and in addition, our concierge is also available to provide personalized recommendations to cater to your needs.
The history of Palazzo Luce narrated by its creators: artists, designers, architects and gallery owners, all involved in a project in an art and design home that becomes a collective story, and in which ancient spaces and contemporary creativity complement each other harmoniously. For guests who would like to know how Anna Maria Enselmi’s dream and vision took shape, the Palazzo Luce documentary film, directed by Alessandra Galletta, which successfully premiered during the X edition of the Milano Design Film Festival, is available for a private screening along with dinner, a gourmet menu of traditional, mediterranean cuisine served on an ancient majolica table in the library.
A ‘behind the scenes’ journey with exclusive images, anecdotes and testimonies following the timeline of beauty and emotion as the unique project is realized.
A CANDLELIGHT PERFORMANCE
Palazzo Luce’s guests are invited to an exclusive performance in the library centered on the hypnotic site-specific installation created by artist Marzia Migliora. Taking inspiration from the room’s vocation as a showcase of culture, Marzia Migliora has chosen quotes from authors such as Sylvia Plath, Samuel Beckett and José Saramago, and reproduced them on large mirrors, reworking them as optometric tables: an intimate encounter with words, an invitation to look beyond the reflections which resonate like a captivating journey throughout the performance. Guests are invited to go back in time on a path along the darkened corridors of the Palace until they reach the library. Here, by candlelight, an actor in period costume, accompanied by a musician, brings the selected phrases to life, creating a kind of sensory bubble suspended in time, evoked by the magic of recited words and ancient sounds. The soft light reflected in the mirrors, the voice, and the music create an enveloping atmosphere for an experience that combines art with emotion.
Like a garden suspended in the heart of the Baroque city, the terrace hosts an extraordinary performance designed exclusively for Palazzo Luce’s guests that tells an ancient tale of ritual dance in a stylish and contemporary way. Starting with an intimate, private dinner under the pergola, the evening continues in the most secluded area of the terrace, guided by seductive music that invites guests to join the performers under the green light of the neon artwork by artist Joseph Kosuth. The dancers – who performed at the spectacular Dior fashion show in Lecce in 2020 – enter as mysterious nightly apparitions to the rhythm of the music composed by Paolo Buonvino, “Taranta Reimagined”, the story of the “Taranta”, with its esoteric origins that are lost in Dionysian cults and its symbolic meaning of healing from poison through the exorcism of frenetic sound and the swirling movements. The charm of the legend blends with the purity of the dance to offer guests an unprecedented experience that reinterprets tradition in a timeless beauty.
Food and its preparation are genuine moments of discovery of the region’s culture, from the selection of the ingredients to the various stages that bring a dish to completion, the ritual of traditional recipes is combined with inventiveness, care and passion. Palazzo Luce’s large kitchen with its original majolica features, shines with the golden reflections of the copper and yellow Siena marble inserts and it is the ideal, welcoming, bright environment for a unique, private cooking experience for Palazzo guests. A gastronomic journey through Puglia’s and specifically Salento’s flavors, where peasant cooking and seafood dishes exist side by side. There are meat dishes, fish dishes and then finally delicious desserts which all echo their Byzantine and Arabian origins.
Care for the well-being of the mind and body is part of the attention that Palazzo Luce pays to its guests. The Pilates Suite was created with the idea that the wellness area should resonate with the same aesthetic sensitivity that permeates the rooms and lounges of the Palace. Accessible from the mediterranean garden, it is located on the ground floor, under ancient, vaulted ceilings. In the space characterized by touches of intense green, the state-of-the-art pilates machines are © Merrithew Stott Pilates, with the possibility of booking a certified Stott Pilates personal trainer for private lessons or duets. The Pilates workout, with its focus on breathing, concentration, and fluidity of movement, can also be combined with functional training.
Palazzo Luce’s commitment to excellence extends to its well-being offering, which focuses on face, body and scalp treatments with exclusive products and treatments from Biologique Recherche. Alice Lastrato, brand ambassador and skin therapist, is an expert in personalized skincare protocols.
Located in Castro Marina, overlooking the Adriatic coast, Villa Jolanda offers an exclusive seaside retreat for guests of Palazzo Luce. The villa, with its impressive nineteenth-century architecture features a grand staircase connecting the garden to the house, and a stunning “rotunda on the sea” adorned with blue majolica. Dedicated to Ettore Sottsass, the villa showcases selected pieces by the designer and the Memphis group, alongside historical and contemporary design furnishings. The interior and exterior spaces are characterized by bold colors and unconventional combinations of materials, such as the famous Totems and Ultrafragola mirror by Sottsass, the carpet by Nathalie du Pasquier, seats by Pier Giulio Magistretti and Gio Ponti, furnishings by Osvaldo Borsani, or Martino Gamper, and lights by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. The bedroom features a wooden headboard designed by the Campana Brothers, and an iconic Plaza dressing table by Michael Graves. On the terrace, guests can relax on Ico Parisi’s rocking chairs with customized cushions in Bauhaus fabric.
Palazzo Luce guests and Villa Jolanda guests who decide to extend their stay can enjoy a dedicated boat tour from the port of Castro Marina. A vintage style gozzo from the Cantieri Aprea yachting dynasty takes passengers on a route that follows in the footsteps of Aeneas. The excursions offer picturesque views of the Salento coast, where nature, history and legends merge into landscapes shaped by time and emerald hues. Passengers can explore the spectacular caves with stalactites and rock formations like the Zinzulusa Cave, the Green Grotto, as well as the suggestive Ponte del Cielo and the enchanting coves.
Conceived and designed by Martino Gamper, for Palazzo Luce, the bar is truly a work of creativity, inspiration, design and craftsmanship in its totality. The interplay of pastel colors, contemporary textures, burnished mirrored surfaces, luminous reflections from the large chandelier – a Palace period piece – and Bethan Laura Wood’s elegant inflorescence lights, creates a perfect environment whereby one can lounge, sipping cocktails, from late afternoon until midnight.