Where to stay along the way

AMALFI COAST

Monastero Santa Rosa

The entrance to this 17th-century former monastery in Conca dei Marini is portentous: a bell heralds visitors’ arrival and a 500-yearold door leads into the parlatorio (parlour), where the cloistered nuns would address their relatives through the grates. A confessional is tucked into the main corridor, for the views would take your breath away. A painstaking restoration has preserved the structure’s fine architectural details while adding all the comforts of a luxury hotel (monasterosantarosa.com), including beautifully appointed rooms, a worldclass spa and an infinity pool that is surely the Amalfi Coast’s best. LECCE

Mantatelurè Dimora Esclusiva

It would be a shame not to stay in the heart of the Baroque city of Lecce, referred to as the “Florence of the South”. There are just six rooms in this former palazzo (mantatelure. it) built in 1550 and reimagined in the 21st century as a stylish bed and breakfast. Guests can drink coffee in the walled garden courtyard and – in keeping with the vineyards that flourish across the surrounding countryside – sip wine in its cellar. TROPEA

Villa Paola

Calabria doesn’t get more beautiful than this: terraced gardens lead down from this restored 16th-century monastery towards the fortified cliff-sides of Tropea, the gulfs of Gioia Tauro and Saint Euphemia and beyond. Now a boutique hotel (villapaolatropea.it), the historic building is characterised by arched ceilings, marble floors and terraces that offer views of a bougainvilleaframed sea.