BELMOND HOTEL CARUSO, ITALY
The Belmond Hotel Caruso sits high above the coast of Ravello in a majestic setting, a romantic palazzo oozing elegant old-school Italian glamour. So sophisticated are the marble hallways and bleached pastel arches that it wouldn’t feel too much of a reach to imagine Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton strolling past in flowing linens and oversized shades. The hotel famously houses an azure infinity pool, offering incredible panoramic views over the Tyrrhenian Sea by way of a mountainous backdrop. If you’re after a spectacular holiday snap, this is it. We spend the mornings lounging poolside under white parasols, sequestering from the blazing sun to sip cappuccinos and the hotel’s signature spritzes (no judgement, please, we’re on holiday). Come lunchtime, a lazy saunter to the poolside restaurant offers mouthwatering pizzas and fresh buffalo mozzarella salads with a customary glass of crisp local white wine. Then there’s the five-star Belvedere Restaurant serving melt-in-the-mouth black ink pasta with lobster, and local salt-crusted fish as we dine alfresco among fragrant rose bushes and watch the moon rise over the coastline, toasting another perfect day.
We stay in a Seaview Garden Suite with French windows that open out on to a private terrace (a similar size to our open-plan living room in London) where we sip Champagne and hungrily absorb the breathtaking views; immaculate, blossom-filled gardens and cascading lemon groves to the foreground and glittering sea beyond. The bathroom is floor-to-ceiling marble, and I spend more time in the rose petal-filled bathtub than I’d like to admit. Despite its resplendence, the hotel boasts just 50 rooms and suites, so wandering around the salons, admiring frescoes and ornate furniture, feels intimate and uncrowded.
While the whole Amalfi region is known for its ceramics, Ravello is particularly famous, and the small town gives rise to various outlets from tourist stores touting trinkets to upmarket interiors boutiques selling modern takes on the traditional lemon-adorned vases and pasta bowls.
When the desire for beach-time descends, it pays to take advantage of the hotel staff’s knowledge; the beaches of nearby Amalfi and Positano are iconic but swarming with people, especially in high season, so instead we head down hundreds of steep steps to Ravello’s own, more secluded, Castiglione beach. There’s little signage and obviously those steps will need to be climbed on the way back, but it’s worth it to secure a blue-and-white sunbed and parasol (is there anything more Amalfi?) and enjoy our own taste of clear azure seas without tripping over an extended family of locals who’ve brought along everything but the kitchen sink. VICTORIA JOY