HOTEL LE SIRENUSE
“Positano bites deep,” wrote John Steinbeck in a 1953 article for Harper’s BAZAAR that played its part in transforming a remote fishing village into the glittering honey pot for the jet-set that it remains today. Hotel Le Sirenuse, the summer seat of the Sersale family who still runs the place, is less villa and more a series of verandahs with bedrooms attached, or little terraces cantilevered into a steep cliff overlooking the town and the beach below. In 2011, Le Sirenuse celebrated 60 years as a hotel, earning a Michelin star the following year for its restaurant La Sponda. This is the heart of the place, with tables spilling onto the dreamy bougainvilleadraped terrace where, at the other end, a slender pool beckons between lemons, jasmines, and swaying palms. www.sirenuse.it
Best Secret Garden GIARDINO DI NINFA
Described in The Most Romantic Garden in the World by Charles Quest-Ritson, this Sleeping Beauty of a garden is a kind of pre-Raphaelite dream. Until 60 years ago, it lay abandoned. The noble Caetani family transformed it into a botanical paradise, retaining its wild, untamed Romanticism. Roses climb ancient turrets and ramparts; a nightingale sings in the belfry; and water lilies line the picturesque moat by the castle ruins, as swans glide by. Rome is just under an hour’s drive away; stay in the city’s best hotels with beautiful hidden gardens, Rome Cavalieri ( www.romecavalieri.com) and Portrait Suites ( www.lungarnocollection.com). www.fondazionecaetani.org