hotel/airbnb recommendations for Lecce, Italy

We stayed 4 nights at Dimora San Leucio. Bed and breakfast. Old town. Lovely hosts - Flavio and Carla.

Here’s where I stayed, plus what I did during my three days in Lecce. Have a wonderful time!

I took a taxi from the train station to my B&B, Dimora San Giuseppe. It’s located very near to the amplitheater. My deluxe double room was huge! It’s bigger than our bedroom at home and included a side sofa and a French-looking table & chair set. The modern bathroom with a huge shower with lots of gizmos was the nicest one, along with Bari’s on this trip. This definitely wasn’t the tiny Italian shower I’ve received often. The breakfast was very nice with a large assortment of local food. I told the young lady in Italian that I was really going to miss the Puglia delicious passaciotto for breakfast! The last morning when I would be walking to the train after breakfast, she brought one wrapped up in foil as she delivered my espresso to the breakfast table - how sweet of her!

Another fun part about staying at this B&B was meeting a couple from San Diego (originally Wales) who had finished the RS Sicily tour and a 12-person tour in the Puglia region with a couple of days here afterwards. They were having breakfast on the outdoor terrace, and I asked them where they lived. We had a fun conversation, and she even went to their room to bring back their familiar blue & gold guidebook and printed itinerary for a photo of them! : )

My first day, I purchased the combo ticket to go inside the five largest churches. I had planned to go in them my second day, so that suddenly opened up Day 2’s itinerary.

I quickly booked a 2-hr City Tour from Viator for that next morning, mainly because it took awhile to find anything that allowed me to sign up as one person. Lorenzo de Robertis from Discovering Lecce gave seven of us an excellent tour of the history of Lecce! We also stopped in a local cafe during the short time of rain & had a delicious “Leccese coffee” & conversation. He did a wonderful job not only explaining different historical neighborhoods & their architectural styles, but making sense of the extensive symbolism of the Baroque decor that could be a whole day tour itself! He also shared some noteworthy restaurants and places for street food.

Awaiting Tables Cooking Class is another reason I added Lecce to my itinerary. My last day, I attended Silvestro’s Market & Fish Class & highly recommend this one for both the food, learning how to make orecchiette (little ears) pasta, but also for all of the great conversation during the six hours. I also want to give credit to him for having a comprehensive document he sent me before the class that described the culture, plus it mentioned connecting with people’s businesses on social media before the trip instead of waiting until afterwards. I really benefited from his advice and thanked him for it!

Awesome info! Thank you! Where did you stay in Bari? We are thinking of one night on each end of the trip. Much, MUCH appreciated!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/my-1-month-independent-trip-to-southern-italy-tribute-to-my-husband

I really liked the place & location where I stayed in Bari! I would definitely stay there again! The breakfast was excellent, and my room with the loft was nice & large!

The whole itinerary was wonderful! Have a great time!

we stayed at the B&B Palazzo Charlie and really enjoyed the location and the accommodations. there are only a few suites, and there are some stairs to climb, but the price was quite reasonable and the breakfast was also quite good. it's owned by a lovely couple originally from Switzerland. great recommendations for restaurants. we had already booked our own tours, but I'm sure that Charlie and Manon would have excellent recommendations for things to do as well.
the B&B is just a short walk from the Porta Rudiae gate.