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This noble residence was built in 1872 and completed at the end of the XIX century by Giuseppe Oronzo Pio, one of the lords of Carpi.

A low vaulted entrance hall leads to an elegant arcaded courtyard and, in the background, a luxuriant internal garden. The garden of Palazzo Pio, set in the very heart of the city of Lecce, features a layout of regular flower beds through a system of paths and orthogonal walkways, which intersect each other in convivial areas embellished with stone seats.

The central avenue, aligned with the front door and the elegant courtyard, has a small gate that opens onto the lush Orangerie: a true “pleasant place for recreation and delights”, where time seems to stop, contemplating the everchanging nature, its light, its colours, and its fragrances.

The garden, which used to house only citrus fruits for domestic, has lost its original look, only to acquire a mainly aesthetic purpose: new furnishings have been introduced as well as new tall and also exotic botanical species.

Now, next to citrus fruits, grow lindens, laurels, Jacaranda, Peruvian pepper, banana trees, Cycads, Yuccas, oleanders, geraniums, roses and peonies: they all blend together offering a harmonious and extremely nice sight. Last but not least, a hedge of Ruscus hypoglossum defines and surrounds the flower beds.

One of the most important features of the building is the mosaic floor, a real “stone garden” and the work of the brothers Michele and Giuseppe Peluso: it stretches along 16 rooms of the building and which gives it uniqueness, style and elegance.
The colours range from various shades of green to white, red, pink, yellow-ocher, grey, brown, and black.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)