The first time I visited the building, I was struck by the light. An incredible light that entered and emerged from the gallery of majolica tiles, in infinite reflections. I was moved. And in that precise moment, I decided to call it Palazzo Luce.

I began to call the people I was close to, people I love. I must say, there are people who are even crazier than I am. I watched them as they all gradually became more excited, as I was, more and more, to the point of realizing – as I did – that we were doing something great.  

One afternoon in late August I was looking at a house in Lecce, on Via del Palazzo dei Conti. It did not have a name. It was the house built and then inhabited by Mary of Enghien, wife of the King of Naples. Strong feelings swept through me, because besides the beauty and intense energy of the place, I felt as if the house were somehow calling to me. 

I’m walking through the halls of the palazzo in the company of the owner’s granddaughter. “I have decided to call it Palazzo Luce” – I say. She is stunned, she says she has goosebumps. “You really want to call it Palazzo Luce? Why? But do you know that my grandmother’s name was Luce?” I did not know that, indeed. It’s up to us to seize the right moment. And to understand the right people, the right things.

When I entered for the first time, I understood that this would be much more than a simple change of hands. If such a beautiful, important building becomes your property, it is not actually because you have purchased it, but because you have decided to care for it. The most wonderful thing you can do is precisely this: to take care.