Upon arrival, we were greeted by Paolo, who is Marco's partner. He is the best, and he speaks English fluently, so it was very easy to communicate with him. He gave us a full tour of the apartment, which is on the second floor, and then was available via text during our entire trip. We felt so much at home by our second day, that we decided to extend our stay another week. The apartment also felt like a fortress, so feeling safe was really not an issue here.
The apartment is in an old building, but the interior was renovated a few years ago with a modern aesthetic. It was equipped with everything we needed - a couch, smart TVs (equipped with Netflix, etc.), a dining table/chairs, a full-sized fridge, large cooking pots/pans, etc. The kitchen had a rather large countertop and was perfect for us, as we cook most of our meals.
The apartment has plenty of room and is lofted; the sleeping area is located up the stairs on the loft level. The bed is super comfortable (It was actually the most comfortable of all the beds we had during our travels through Italy). At night, the street is generally quiet except for Fridays - Saturdays, when the locals are out later. We have found that hearing noise from the streets is pretty normal throughout Italy, especially in the cities.
From the loft level, there are a set of stairs leading up to the roof, which has the best view of the amphitheater and nearest church. There are chairs and a table, so we spent a lot of time up there.
On the day we checked-out, Paolo met us for breakfast and even helped us move into our next Airbnb (also in Lecce, but on the other side of town). The rain and wind were very very severe that day, so he saved us a lot of headaches and stress!
We would absolutely stay here again the next time we are in Lecce. Thank you, Paolo and Marco for a fabulous stay!