The yacht-laden shores of the Amalfi Coast are so glamorously picturesque that they quite literally served as a muse of sorts for Slim Aarons, the legendary, jet-set photographer whose mantra was, "attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." But it's not the idyllic cobbled streets or fresh scialatielli ai frutti di mare that captivate well-heeled summer seekers season after season. (Frankly, you can find better versions of both elsewhere without the crowds and at half the cost.) Vacationers flock to the Amalfi Coast for one simple reason: the sea. While Puglia and Sicily might be currently trendier with travelers, the intrinsic seaside romanticism of these 30 miles of picture-perfect Italian coastline on the edge of the Sorrentine Peninsula remains Europe’s sapphire-colored crown jewel. Whether you're staying in one of the many old palazzos perched atop cliffs overlooking scraggly coves or lounging down at sea level at a beach club nursing on a Spritz Veneziano, the Amalfi Coast is very much worth the splashy plunge.
Everything on Italy's southern shore revolves around the sea, so it makes sense that the Unesco-protected maritime landscape informs the light and airy Arab-Norman design of the region's best hotels. For most, if not all, Amalfi hoteliers, blue really is the warmest color when it comes to furniture and decor.
Parco dei Principi
If you’re hoping to catch a case of the summer blues, start with Parco dei Principi in Sorrento, an ancient palazzo that was transformed by the Milanese architect Gio Ponti into a modernist design hotel. “I was brought there one day when everything was blue through the fog of the solar haze,” Ponti says of his seaside grounds. “Blue sky, blue sea, blue outlines on the horizon of Capri, a Mediterannean island of Ischia, Procida (blue islands), Posillipo (blue peninsula), and Vesuvius (blue volcano).” He wasn’t exaggerating. Blue-patterned majolica floors are found throughout the hotel, including the lobby, where the walls are adorned with ceramic plates made by the Italian ceramicist Fausto Melotti, and all 96 of its rooms. Clear blue skies are complimented by blue umbrellas and blue chairs flanking a swimming pool adorned with a Ponti diving board.
Maison La Minervetta
The aptly-named Maison La Minervetta, Marco de Luca’s kaleidoscopic hotel in Sorrento, operates more like an eccentric private home than a luxury lodging. The hotel is filled with de Luca's personal collection of books, Gaetano-Pesce vases, Ettore-Sottsas lamps, ceramic stools by India Majadavi and Verner-Panton chairs. “Blue is the color that unites us to the sea,” says de Luca, adding that the oceanic hue is used throughout Sorrento's painted fishing boats and quaint seafood cafés. Formerly a restaurant, La Minervetta was owned by de Luca's grandfather in the 1950s. “Upon entering I was captured by the light and the thousand shades of blue, from the sea to the sky to Mount Vesuvius, which, with its shape and reflections, mixes in all its shades."
Borgo Santandrea
A private beach is a rarity for hotels in the Amalfi Coast. But secluded sands frame Borgo Santandrea, the first luxury hotel to open on the coast in 15 years, which has just reopened to the public after a four-year restoration. Architect Rino Gambardella chose to play with shades of blue and white through a mix of antique furniture, traditional Amalfi crafts and geometric tiles made by Cotto Vietri, a local manufacturer who painted each tile by hand on site over the course of two years. Gambardella commissioned Molteni and C Dada to furnish the property with blue armchairs and other iconic pieces by Italian architect and industrial designer Gio Ponti, whose Parco dei Principi hotel in Sorrento was one of the first design hotels to open in Italy in the 1960s.
Excelsior Belvedere Hotel & Spa
The French author Alphonse de Lamartine once described the green hills and shimmering blue waters of Ischia, a Mediterranean island of Ischia that neighbors the Amalfi Coast, as “blossomed from the dream of a poet in the light sleep of a summer night." Alessandro Leonessa, the co-owner and architect behind Excelsior Belvedere, a luxury hotel and spa on the island, says the isle's volcanic Tyrrhenian Sea and beaches where the sand underground is as hot as 350 degrees serve as a wellspring of Ischitan inspiration. “As our hotel is on the beach and has its own therapeutic thermal water source, blue was a fundamental color in the design process,” says Leonessa. In the evenings, an exotic botanical garden carved out of the base of a large volcanic rock hosts evening classical-music concerts set against a dramatic backdrop of Ischia's mineral-rich thermal waters.
Il San Pietro
One of the most storied hotels in the Amalfi Coast is Il San Pietro, a beguiling family-run property carved into a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea so seamlessly that you would be forgiven for missing it entirely. The dramatic location means the property lets its surroundings do the talking, including an elevator built into the rocks that descends directly to the sea — or rather, the restaurant, spa and tennis court tucked between the cliffs. Each room comes with a private terrace and some of the best seaside views in all of Positano. Before dining on lobster tagliatelle at Zass, a Michelin-starred restaurant known for its pink tables, summon one of the free Mercedes-Benz shuttles to escort you into town for some afternoon retail therapy.
Hotel Lo Scoglio
The octopus salad and marinated anchovies served at Lo Scoglio, arguably the best restaurant on the Amalfi Coast, are so delicious that you may never want to leave. Thankfully, the Lo Scoglio menu also includes a charming hotel right on the Marina del Cantone beach. Rooms are simple, functional and filled with quaint built-in wooden furniture that echoes the fishing boats that populate the nearby seaside villages. The best perk of all? Private beach access is included in the stay and you’re only a mere 20 second walk from quite possibly the best Spaghetti alla Nerano you’ll ever have.
