Lecce

Lecce is the south at its most beautiful, and its least varnished. They call it the Florence of the South, and the baroque architecture earns the name. The whole old town is carved from a soft golden limestone that glows at sunset, churches and balconies dripping with stone flowers and saints. But strip away the comparison and Lecce is its own thing entirely. This is the deep south, the heel of the boot, where life runs slow and warm and the rest of Italy feels far away. For the right person, that distance is the whole point.