My Amalfi Coast tour
My Amalfi Coast tour. Finally I can share the story of my Amalfi Coast tour! A whole week between Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi, which has really regenerated me: naturalistic landscapes so perfect that you can’t believe they are true, lush plants and the scent that the lemonades emanate around it. And then the food, exquisite and looked after in the least detail. Here’s all about my vacation on the Amalfi Coast!
My Amalfi Coast tour with Leading Hotels of the World
As soon as I arrived at Naples airport I immediately rented the car that would accompany me step by step on my tour. I went for website that I had read only positive reviews of and my expectations were not disappointed. It is called NoleggioAuto.it: it allows you to quickly compare the proposals of the best companies and with a few clicks to book the car that will accompany you on your trip!
Immediately afterwards we headed for the first stop of our on the road trip of the Amalfi Coast: Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, a 5 star hotel in the heart of Sorrento, belonging to the Leading Hotels of The World collection. There was a great surprise waiting for me: Suite Signature Lucio Dalla booked on my behalf. The same one that in 1986 hosted Lucio Dalla in person, who during his stay composed the famous song Caruso.
The charm of this suite is definitely in the presence of the piano and of the record player in the living room, but also in the stunning sea-view terrace. A part of the song refers to the landscape that I can see there, right in front of my eyes. And knowing that that same room inspired one of the songs that most marked the history of Italian music, I was deeply thrilled. To add emotion to emotions, every day a very good musician played the piano live at some key moments of the day (I was lucky enough to hear it during breakfast and during the happy-hour) and among the various typical Neapolitan songs he often offered also Caruso. You can not feel the magic of those moments!
From the terrace of the suite you have a great view that embraced Naples, Vesuvius and the whole Gulf. Sorrento is the only place on the Amalfi Coast where the sun sets in the sea: mark it if you want to take photos to one of the most characteristic sunsets in the world!
The Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria was built in 1834 and has since then remained a property of the same family, the Fiorentino family. It is said that the ruins of the Roman Emperor Augusto’s villa ìlie beneath the structure, and the past still breathes in the large frescoed rooms such as the Sala Vittoria, which serves breakfast from 7am to 11am every morning. An immense board of sweets, another with the savory choices, where the scrambled egg is cooked on the moment. And then my favorite angle, that of the freshly-centrifuged: every morning I was prepared a mango, green apple, half ginger root, orange juice, lemon and carrot based smoothie, thanks to the advice of the maître Giuseppe Valestra.
Outside the Hotel there is a beautiful swimming pool with SPA, completely surrounded by a citrus grove and a lemon grove. Here is also one of the restaurants, the Orangerie, which offers Mediterranean cuisine and great pizzas.
As I anticipated before, one of the most beautiful moments is the sunset. Everyone collects on the hotel’s terrace to listen to the live piano or, like me, to take advantage of the last ray of light to work on computers!
For dinner we tried Terrazza Bosquet, the Michelin-starred Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria restaurant. Executive Chef Antonino Montefusco told me about his cooking vision, so enchanting!
If you go to Sorrento I recommend not to miss the gardens of Cataldo, where you can walk surrounded by giant lemons and buy typical products of the citrus and nuts.
Our walk continues in the heart of Sorrento: an open air market where you can buy fresh fruit, pasta, limoncello, colorful pottery and paintings!
After saying bye bye to Sorrento, we headed towards Positano in the direction of Hotel Le Sirenuse, another hotel belonging to the Leading Hotels of The World group. Already from the name iyou can get that this is a particularly magical place. The legend tells that the island of I Galli, located just in front of Le Sirenuse, is the famous island of Sirens who, with their beautiful song, enchanted Ulysses on his return to Ithaca.
As you can imagine from the photos, everything is themed. Even the towels are embroidered with sirens.
In my room the floor was entirely covered with blue and purple majolica that extended on the terrace overlooking Positano, where on our arrival we find a rich snack based on fresh fruit, nuts and sparkling wine.
The breakfast room is nothing short of magnificent: there are climbing plants that run on the white walls and it seems to be in a greenhouse: from the windows you can enjoy an absolutely unique view over Positano!
After breakfast I was given a few moments of relaxation in the beautiful Le Sirenuse pool, surrounded by all kinds of plants. You must know that one of the daughters of the owner personally deals with the search for the plants of the Hotel: believe me, there are so many of them, all different from each other. A real sight for sore eyes!
For lunch we tried the curd carpaccio with fennel, pine nuts and black olives, seasoned with local oil. Tasty and delicious!
I can not spend two words at the time of coffee in Le Sirenuse: it is accompanied by a goblet of limoncello and typical biscuits, one more delicious than the other!
With Manu we decided to buy the dishes for our future home here, just like those of Le Sirenuse. They showed us the place where they bought them. It’s called Ceramiche Assunta and in a few weeks they will come here to us… We cannot wait!
We then left the Hotel and after a short downhill walk we reached the famous beach of Positano.
For dinner we stopped in the central square of the village, at the Le Tre Sorelle trattoria, where I enjoyed a great fresh fish soup. I recommend it to you all: the food is great but be aware that the portions are super big (order one dish at a time)!
After Positano we left for the last stop of our tour: Amalfi, at Hotel Santa Caterina. Even here we have reserved a wonderful room, all in tones of white and blue. The bathroom tiles were large stripes of those exact colors. In addition to the sleeping area, there was a living room with a beautiful shell-shaped lamp and a studio corner with a desk. There was also a walk-in closet, like in all the rooms and suites I’ve stayed in during my experience with Leading Hotels of The World, one of the most important luxury hotel collections (with over 375 hotels in 75 countries) .
Santa Caterina has several levels: the top one is wonderful because there is a breakfast room surrounded by a colorful garden, enchanted with colorful majolica, flowers and lemons all around (even four lemon trees above the sea) where you can walk up to a balcony with panoramic views of the small village of Amalfi.
From the top part of Santa Caterina you can go down to the sea level with a beautiful panoramic lift excavated in the rock. There is the gorgeous swimming pool and the seafront restaurant where I enjoyed one of the best pizza margherita of my life!
A couple of times a week at Ristorante Al Mare, which is down to the beach (you have to take the panoramic lift to reach it) is organized a typical Neapolitan dinner, with lots of tenor and musicians singing and playing live all evening. For the occasion, the entire terrace is also illuminated with suspended bulbs, which, at sunset, create a very impressive sight!
Just at the end of my week in the Amalfi Coast it was Manu’s thirtieth birthday, so he reached me (unknowingly, it was a surprise!) to celebrate together. For the occasion I wanted to organize a special day. After spending a sunny day at Amalfi at Santa Caterina, we moved to Positano for the sunset time where we went for a ride on a vintage beak owned by Hotel Poseidon. Eventually we reached the Banco di Salvatore (located on the road to Amalfi), where we took the centrifuge with cherry, lemon and orange, a specialty of Salvatore, which is really great!
For dinner we then went back to the Hotel where I had reserved a table at Ristorante Il Tridente with panoramic views over Positano. We chose the tasting menu with starter, first, second, sweet and tasting of typical wines. At the moment of the dessert it came the last surprise I had arranged with the complicity of the very kindly Margherita: a pear and chocolate birthday cake with a beautiful #30 made of chocolate and M&Ms. Manu was not expecting anything and was completely speechless for how good it was!
This was the last stop of this tour of the Amalfi Coast. A trip that has thrilled me at every moment and will remain forever in my heart as one of the most beautiful experiences ever. Thanks to the Leading Hotels Of The World: our Italy is truly wonderful, never miss the opportunity to visit and value it as it deserves!
