The language of stone

By Flavia Tomaello, https://flaviatomaello.blog/, Instagram @flavia.tomaello

The stone of southern Italy knows the art of remembering. It keeps the heat of the sun, preserves invisible traces, transforms the passage of time into a form of wisdom. In Lecce, this luminous material acquires a singular expression when it becomes inhabited architecture, when history stops being a story and becomes atmosphere. Today La Fiermontina Palazzo Bozzi Corso arises at that exact point where the past becomes presence and elegance is expressed as a natural gesture.

Built in 1775 under the precise gaze of Emanuele Manieri, the palazzo responds to an idea of ​​harmony that crosses the centuries with serenity. The proportions maintain an almost musical balance, the volumes are smoothly articulated, the lines build a continuity between body and space. The Leccese baroque manifests itself here with refined sobriety, with a silent nobility that accompanies the experience without imposing itself.

The transformation of the building into a haven of contemporary hospitality is born from a profound cultural vision driven by Antonia Yasmina and Giacomo Fouad Filali. Inheritors of a genealogy marked by art, travel and encounters between cultures, they have known how to give the palazzo a life that dialogues with its essence. The current intervention does not seek prominence, it is integrated with intelligence, with sensitivity, with an intimate understanding of the place.

The ten suites unfold like personal universes. Each one has been conceived as a composition where design, memory and art establish subtle affinities. Objects by Gio Ponti, Ettore Sottsass, Mackintosh and Le Corbusier coexist with pieces from the family collection, generating a fluid and coherent visual story. The color builds deep atmospheres, the materials provide a cultivated warmth, the whole invites a conscious living experience.

The interiors propose a different perception of rhythm. The high ceilings expand the feeling of space, the stone floors maintain a friendly freshness, the light runs through the surfaces with an almost ritual courtesy. Each element seems aimed at promoting calm, attention, and continuity between body and environment. Rest appears as a natural consequence of general balance.

Art is integrated into the palazzo as part of its breathing. The sculptures of Jacques Zwoboda and René Letourneur provide a solid, introspective, almost meditative presence. Fernand Léger’s watercolors introduce a modern, vibrant energy, while John Lennon’s original drawings, donated by Yoko Ono, add an intimate dimension, full of humanity. The works are not exhibited as isolated pieces, they accompany the life of the space with discretion and coherence.

The secret garden offers a pause within the urban fabric. Protected, contained, serene, it is presented as a place where time takes on another density. Between trees, books and soft conversations, the experience becomes introspective. A glass of wine or a coffee finds its natural context here. Beauty arises from care, from proportion, from the attention paid to every detail.

Stories that become architecture

The identity of the palazzo is built from intense biographies that span generations. Enzo Fiermonte walks through the place as a living presence, the embodiment of an extraordinary life. Born in Puglia, he left his homeland as a teenager to start a career as a professional boxer in Rome. His talent led him to win the Italian and European champion titles, projecting him to international stages that included Paris, London, Buenos Aires and Madison Square Garden in New York, where he competed for the world title.

During a trip on an ocean liner he met Lady Madeleine Astor, an American heiress who survived the Titanic, whom he married in 1933. After a few years, that union came to an end and a new stage marked by transformation began. Enzo Fiermonte left boxing to dedicate himself to cinema, developing a prolific career with more than one hundred films. His physical presence and charisma led him to share the stage with Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani and Tino Scotti, until he joined the cast of Rocco ei suoi fratelli by Luchino Visconti. His last years were spent in Rome, a city that accompanied the close of a life marked by movement and reinvention.

The memory of Enzo Fiermonte is integrated into the palazzo in an intimate way, without solemnity. Her story dialogues with that of Antonia Fiermonte, painter and violinist, central figure in the family lineage. His life spanned Puglia, Rome, Paris, New York and Morocco. Her marriage to the sculptor René Letourneur, her bond with Jacques Zwoboda and her meeting with the qadi Thami Filali gave rise to a bridge between cultures, religions and artistic languages, sustained by tolerance and dialogue.

That legacy is translated into the philosophy of La Fiermontina Palazzo Bozzi Corso, where hospitality is conceived as a cultural experience. The palazzo’s rooftop offers an elevated perspective over Lecce, with the bell towers and stone roofs composing a suspended landscape. The pool reflects the sky with a contemplative stillness, conducive to internalized beauty. The Palazzo today integrates the collection of the Fiermontina Family, which also has the Fiermonte Museum that narrates the family history with works by Antonia Fiermonte and the French sculptors René Letourneur and Jacques Zwobada; La Fiermontina Luxury Home, an old 17th century country house surrounded by olive trees and home to the Zéphyr Restaurant.

The experience proposed by this place is defined by a sensitive elegance, by a deep relationship with memory and space. Lecce expands beyond its geography and settles into the perception of those who inhabit the palazzo. Palazzo Bozzi Corso remains attentive, breathing art, lineage and present. There are spaces capable of transforming without imposing, capable of accompanying without explaining. This palazzo belongs to that rare category of places that integrate sensitivity and remain.