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Ravello Hotels That Will Knock Your Socks Off!5 Star Properties
Palazzo Sasso
Ravello, Italy
Hotel Palazzo Sasso Ravello is a stunning new five star deluxe hotel on Italy's famous Amalfi coast. The hotel is a 12th century Italian villa tucked away in the hill top village of Ravello perched high on the cliffs, 350 meters (1,000 ft.) above the sparkling Mediterranean and overlooking some of the coast's most picturesque fishing villages. Just as Palazzo Sasso opened its door as a new hotel in 1997, it has been rated as one of the finest hotel and restaurant in the World.
History of Palazzo Sasso
Originally built in the 12th C., Palazzo Sasso, like many other buildings along San Giovanni del Toro, was part of the aristocratic quarter of Ravello during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Some original rooms remain, such as the entrance hall and a small bathroom used as a cellar in the Restaurant. The Palazzo Sasso owes its name to the prosperous Sasso family from Scala, who were descended from San Romoaldo, founder of the Cistercian order, and San Dominico Sasso, the successor to Saint Dominico who created the Dominican order. Another ancestor was the legendary Gerardo, founder of the Knights of Malta. The "Ravello" branch of the family was linked to Cardinal Ottavio, Governor of the Emilia Romagna region during the reign of Pope Pius the III.
The Sasso family settled in Ravello in about in 1710 when Domenico Diego purchased the remains of the Palazzo Sasso from the noble Bonito family and subsequently restored it. In 1756, his son, Andrea, built the chapel, dedicated to Maria Maddalena Penitente, which is now the lobby of the hotel. Andrea died in 1758 without an heir. The Palazzo was then abandoned until the beginning of the 19th Century when it was purchased by a rich industrial family called Camera. In the mid-19th Century, the first foreign visitors began to arrive, such as Francis Nevil Reid in 1851 and Richard Wagner. When James Becket bought and rebuilt Villa Cimbrone in 1904, Ravello attracted many prominent people, including Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Maynard Keynes, D.H. Lawrence and Andre Gide. The potential for tourism was not lost on the Camera family who, following the example of other local families, converted the Palazzo into a Hotel. In 1928 the Viullmieur family assumed the management of the hotel.
During the next half-century, Palazzo Sasso was known as Hotel Palumbo and its guests numbered Kings, Queens, aristocrats, poets and writers. On the declaration of war against France (in 1939), the French-born Duchess Anna of Aosta (wife of the Viceroy of Ethiopia) was applauded by the people of Ravello when she appeared on a terrace above The Principessa di Piemonte Gardens. The beauty and tranquility of Palazzo Sasso has inspired many XX century personalities; the playwright Eduardo de Filippo wrote "Saturday, Sunday, Monday" on one of its terraces and General Eisenhower was a resident when he was planning the attack on Monte Cassino. Former guests remember Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini giggling over dinner in the restaurant.
This era was sadly interrupted in 1978, when the Viullmieur family gave up the Palazzo Sasso in favour of the Palazzo Confalone. The Palazzo was closed for ensuing 19 years. Fully restored, it re-opened in July 1997 to continue it's historic adventure.
Palazzo Sasso offers a peaceful sanctuary overlooking the sea with activities such as:
SPA with hydro pool, Turkish steam bath, Beauty treatments
Fitness area on the open air
Heated swimming pool
Solarium with Jacuzzi Pools
Beauty Treatments
One Hundred Years of History
In year 1893, Pantaleone Caruso, (who already owned a vineyard and produced an excellent wine), and his wife, Emilia Cicalese, rented 5 rooms in one of the wings of the Marquis D’Afflitto’s eleventh century palace and open the "Pensione Belvedere". He chose this name because of the hanging garden facing the mountains and plunging down to the sea. Getting there was not an easy thing, but the efforts of the first daring tourists were paid off by the splendid view: blooming lemon groves and lush vineyards stippled by white roofs against the blue of the sea and of the sky. The guests were simply fascinated: glorious food, glorious home made wine and glorious view.
The Hotel served as a favourite haunt of the Bloomsbury Group, Virginia Woolf and Lord Keynes among others, and it also helped Graham Green and William Styron to find the way, respectively, to The Third Man and Set This House On Fire. Last but not least to fall to Ravello’s charms is Gore Vidal who, brought to Ravello for the first time by Tennessee Williams, wrote, while staying at room n° 9, his Myra Breckinridge. He will leave Ravello no more, becoming a freeman of this corner of paradise.
In 1903 a journalist guest in love with the Hotel, wrote a long article on the New York Times and the Caruso suddenly became very famous across the Atlantic. Wealthy Americans, who wintered on the European rivieras and sought charming places in which to stay, immediately adopted that remote little hideaway which, when its five rooms soon became twenty-four, was transformed into a hotel occupying the entire palazzo, and the owner’s name was added to the original "Belvedere".
Pantaleone was the first Caruso to become famous. When the tenor Enrico Caruso landed in New York to make his debut at the Metropolitan and needed to sign a promissory note, the singer was asked if he was a relative of Caruso from Ravello, he said yes.
Many personalities signed the Golden Book of the Hotel Caruso Belvedere: Umberto of Savoy, Anne of France, Filippo of Assia visited the Caruso in 1926; King Farouk and Arturo Toscanini in 1929.
In the next years the Hungarian Royal Family, the soprano Toti Dal Monte, the Savoy Family, the Italian playwright Eduardo De’ Filippo, Rosalind Russel, Max Reinhart, the Nobel prize winner Alexander Fleming, John Huston, Margot Fonteyn, Gina Lollobrigida, Humphrey Bogart, Jackie Kennedy; and any number of prominent personalities between the First and Second World Wars.
However these are not the only names that made history at the Hotel. Just a glance to the golden book reveals the tracks of another kind of past: Royal Scots Grey, 113th Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery, Queen’s Royal Regiment. It was 1943 and the Allies could rest at last at the Caruso after the landing in Salerno.
Once the war was over, the celebrities returned. The hotel was now managed by Paolo and Gino Caruso, Pantaleone’s sons. Guest were welcomed by the same enormous fireplace, the eighteenth –century frescoes, the terrace framed by Norman arches, the park filled with pergolas, oleanders, wisteria, the two stone lions "guarding" the entrance and, in the distance, the Belvedere that made the hotel such a success.
This wonderful hotel offers in room spa, body and facial treatments, and a glorious pool. Tennis is a short walk away.
Complimentary boat excursions from May to end September and complimentary shuttle service to Amalfi and/or Positano
The Hotel still preserves reminiscences of the original medieval structure of the 12th Century Palazzo Confalone. Other architectural and decorative elements were added in the 17th Century. The architecture of the building is in itself a mosaic of time. The five different levels of the building do not correspond to modern-day storeys, since the original structure was essentially vertical, but irregular. Additional wings and a tower-like extra storey contribute to the maze of unpredictable openings, corners and corridors.
A small flag-like sign hangs discreetly above the main door of Palazzo Confalone. Built in the 12th Century, in a charming location on one of Ravello’s little alleyways, the building protrudes onto the street with a tower-like structure forming an arch, dotted with tiny loop-holes which were used as lookouts in bygone days when safety was rare and to be defended.
Each room in unique, reconciling the medieval origins of the building with ingenious use of space. All the rooms are furnished with antiques from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries belonging to the Vuilleumier family. Faithful to the principle of individuality, the detailing in each room is different.
The Hotel Palumbo has just twenty-one rooms. If it had more, it would lose the special nature of a private residence for a select clientele for which it has always been appreciated.
For those who cannot live without the sea, Hotel Palumbo has a Villa with private access to the shore aa solarium facility, a swimming pool and a staff at disposal. A sort of luxury dependance, only 6 km from the hotel, linked with a shuttle service to move from a location to another.
This hotel in Amalfi (Ravello Mare) is situated in a delicious inlet of the Amalfi Coast and it has been built through the renovation of an ancient paper factory. Amenities include a beach on-site, cocktail bar, on-site fishing, outdoor pool, concierge, cable television and 24-hour room service. The rastaurant offers all the best for a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere accompained by an excellent cucine. Here the guest can spend relaxing and wonderful holidays thanks to the peaceful atmosphere and comforts of the hotel.
This hotel has a charming atmosphere, with navy furnishings originally belonging to old vessels. It has large panoramic terraces overlooking the sea, to enjoy the sound of waves breaking on the rocks.
Two a la carte restaurants let you explore the local cuisine.
This hotel in Amalfi (Ravello Mare) is completely renovated former paper factory perched on the rocks, with private access to the enchanting sea of Ravello.
Hotal Graal
More economic but no less charming is the Hotel Graal, in Via della Repubblica 8, (ph. 089-857222, fax 089-857551).
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