Bed and Breakfast Il Gelso
Lecce, Italy

The B&B Il Gelso is located in the nice and quite countryside of Salento, in Monteroni di Lecce, just 5 km from Lecce, a few kilometers from the city of Copertino, and 15 km from the wonderful beach of Porto Cesareo.

Not far from the Campus of the Università del Salento (Departments of Law, Engineering (ECOTEKNE pole), Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences, Business) and from the Institutes of the National Council for Research, from the Città di Lecce ''Hospital'', from the Nanotechnology National Laboratory - NNL, the Technological District, the B&B Il Gelso is the ideal place for those, tourists, teachers, students, visiting researchers, travellers, who are willing to spend short or long periods of time in the peace and relax ot the countryside of Salento, being able, at any time, to reach both the wonderful Lecce, and the most famous beaches on the Ionic or Adriatic see, such as Gallipoli, Porto Selvaggio, Castro, Otranto, the spa resorts of Santa Cesarea, Santa Maria di Leuca, but remaining far from crowdy and noisy places.

31 km from Melpignano, where the famous La Notte della Taranta takes place in August, every year, the B&B Il Gelso is the pefect choice for both families and groups of friends willing to spend their stay in a friendly environment. The B&B owners welcomes bikers, people riding bicycles, trekking admirers and any other categories of tourists, and have estabilished contacts with all theese communities, both in Italy and abroad, offering special offers to travelling groups.

The informal attitude of the owners and their open mind, differentiate the B&B Il Gelso from the more traditional hotels and/or B&B of the area, allowing anyone to find a comfortable and friendly welcome and a warm interaction for the entire stay. The authentic principles of the B&B hospitality are offered to the guests, providing a family-like atmospere but allowing privacy and relax.

The essential, clean and comfortable style, allows the visitor to feel at home, to use the house to read, to listen to music, to watch tv, and, if he wants to, to interact with the other guests and with the owners.

The breakfast with typical and often home made products, allows to sample the real atmosphere and ''flavours'' of Salento, and the hospitality of its people.

Due to its characteristics our property can also accomodate your pet friends. Please bring them with you: we will be happy to host them.
Our property is GLBT and gay friendly. No religious, sexual, nationality and cultural distintions are made.

For us, hospitality is ''Xenia''. This greek word summerizes our idea of hospitality and of the relationship that, in full respect the tradition of ancient Greece and of Salento, where hospitality is very important, we wish build up with our guests.

Hospitality is reciprocity: it is respect of the owner towards the guest, but also respect of the guest towards the owner. This is represented by a ''welcome gift'' that we give to the guest when he arrives, and also by a ''goodbye gift'' that we give him or her when he/she leaves.

As hosts, ''we give the guests food and drinks, we give them a place where they can change their clothes, but we give them especially a place where they can feel comfortable, like at home''.

For us, to host a visitor is make him or her ''temporary members'' of our ''community'', even for a limited time only, and be at their disposal for the duration of their stay.

We don't care about sexual, racial, cultural, financial differences. We don't believe in differences. Actually we believe that differences strengthen people, and we are eager to learning from different attitides. Not acceptation, therefore, but integration.

We want to make everyone visiting us feel comfortable, to relax and enjoy nature, quite life, the beauties of Salento and, if they are willing to, to share our company, in full respect of everybody's right for privacy.

Our property is not fully equipped to host disabled people, unfortunately, but we would be very happy to host them, and we will be at their complete service to try to eliminate all the existing barriers, as much as we can.

The B&B Il Gelso is a nice and friendly house in the typical mediterranean style, located in the beautyful countriside of Salento, in the vicinity of Lecce. The distance from the main roads, creates a quite and relaxing atmosphere, despite of the short distance form the most beautyful touristic places in Salento, and from Lecce itself.

The access to the villais throgh a gate that enters the tourist into a gravel path. In the left the wide pinewood, with hammocks, ilays and sqings, for a relax in the nature, and for a refrishment in the hot summer afternoons.

The patronal house, in the middle of the wide park, is the owners residence but can, in the busy periods of the year, be used to accomodate aditional guests.

Outside a spice garden, a stone oven and many fruit trees, the guest can use to pick up fresh fruit, and a soccer ground, equipped with powerful lights, for evening matches between groups of friends. Always in the park, separated from the patronal hous, a small one level building hosts 4 double rooms with two reserved bathroms (one bathroom per room). Between the rooms and the villa, a stone oven is used during the summer to cook pizzas and to barbeque.

The Salento, also known as ''Heel of Italy'' is è ''geographically'' the most southern part of Puglia, delimited at West by the Ionic Sea and at East by the Adriatic Sea. The area, that includes the province of Lecce, almost the entire province of Brindisi and part of the province of Taranto, hosts populations with cultural and linguistic characteristics significantly different from those of the rest of Puglia. From a strictly geographic point of view, the Salento peninsula is separated from the rest of Puglia by an imaginary line going from the inner point of the Taranto Gulf (in the Massafra area) up to the Adriatic, close to the old messapian city of Egnazia (close to Fasano). From a cultural point of view, the ideal line goes from Taranto through Grottaglie, San Michele Salentino, Ceglie Messapica and finally to Ostuni, the ''white city''.

The origin of the name ''Salento'' is uncertain. It seems reasonable to think that it comes from the combination of ''Sale'' (Salt) and ''Lento'' (slow), probably due to the slow process of water evaporatin leading to the formation of salt, on the rocky beaches. ''Sale-lento'' - ''Slaw-Salt''... ''Salento''.

The climate of the area is mild, moderated by the presence of the sea, umid but not rainy, with hot summers and mild winters. Along the coast, continuously varying from rocky to sandy character, the wonderful ''macchia mediterranea'', peculiar vegetation, formed by bushes and shrubbery, white and black mulberry trees, prickly pear trees, and the wonderful olive trees, merging their colours with the wonderful blue of the sea.

The people is warm and friendly, very hospitable, ready to open their house to visitors for a glass of wine or for a ''frisa'' (a typical bread made in the area). During the summer several ''street fairs'' take place, called ''sagre'', with their famous lighting and crowds.

An important cultural and social event, studied for many and many years and now become very popular in the entire world, is the tradition of ''Tarantism'', that has deep roots in the Salento culture, and that culminates in the woderful dance of ''Pizzica'', well known all around the globe.