Why the Amalfi Coast in Italy is a hot destination with celebrities such as Beyonce and the Jenner-Kardashian clan
Legend has it that when Lucifer was cast from heaven, he managed to grab a tiny piece of his celestial home and dropped it into the sea and that became the Amalfi Coast.
As luxury holiday destinations go, the Amalfi Coast on Italy’s Sorrentine Peninsula stands in a class of its own. Sparkling like a string of flawless diamonds, the area ‒ a 60km stretch of gorgeous southern Italian coastline featuring over a dozen ancient villages, each more picture-perfect than the other ‒ has been famous as a summer hot-spot longer than the number of zeroes in Kim Kardashian’s bank balance.
Swathed with vertiginous limestone mountains, every cliff-edge blessed with mesmerising views of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno, the area and its principal eponymous town are named after the outsized 10th-century maritime republic, the Duchy of Amalfi. From the start, the entire coastline has been famous for its rugged wild beauty and those dizzying views that never, ever get old, stretching through to the unending hemline between sky and sea.
Early historical records insist that St Francis dropped in on Ravello, one of the coast’s most famous spots, in 1222 on his way to the main town, Amalfi, kickstarting the tradition of famous personalities ‒ including Beyonce, Jay-Z, Christy Turlington, Rob Lowe, the Jenner-Kardashians, and Samuel L Jackson ‒ descending on this sun-kissed part of Italy for their annual R&R.
During the hour-and-a-half drive from Naples, our driver told us that Denzel Washington had holidayed in Positano, another Amalfi Coast favourite, this year, while Jennifer Lopez was spotted in Capri. “All the famous Hollywood stars come here,” he said as he expertly wound the car around the twisty bends and traffic in the single road that links all the towns along the coast. He sighed. “So many tourists.”
One afternoon, while conducting a personal tour through the medieval cloister of the Anantara’s soigne new Amalfi property ‒ the super-luxe Anantara Convento Di Amalfi ‒ Fra Marcus, the genial Franciscan vicar of neighbouring Ravello, said that when Lucifer was cast from heaven, he managed to grab a tiny piece of his celestial home and dropped it into the sea. “That became the Amalfi Coast,” said the brown-cassocked monk, beaming cheerfully at this little piece of tourism spin.
It’s a charming fib, but it feels true. Just the light alone is magical in its clarity. Of course, the downside of all this glamour and gorgeousness is that everyone and their Instagram account wants a piece of the action. I told Fra Marcus what our driver had said about the hordes of tourists. He sighed, too.
Which is why it’s best to avoid the Amalfi Coast during the high season months when the main road between the towns is gridlocked with increasingly bad-tempered drivers and tourists jammed into endless miles of cars, tour buses and motorbikes ‒ their tempers adding into resigned shock when it finally sinks in that they’re enduring this horror even though they’re paying astronomical rates for their hotel rooms. Exhibit A: The starting summer rate for a small room with limited views at Le Sirenuse in Positano, one of the Amalfi Coast’s most famous hotels, is about €2,800 (about S$4,057). Per night.
But if the Amalfi Coast isn’t literally heaven ‒ it’s not prayers you need but a super charged up Amex card to gain entry ‒ it’s probably as close to it as you’re going to get. From Vietri Sul Mare on the eastern tip to Positano to the west, the entire stretch is bathed in year-round sunshine, the rich soil of its craggy cliffs yielding a surprising natural bounty, not least plump purple eggplants, olives and grapes.
We were there in early October, theoretically long past the prime July and August season, but the sun was still blazing hot and the sea dazzling in its sequinned sparkle. And each day, the boat jetty in Amalfi was still disgorging hundreds of day trippers from neighboring islands, Capri and Ischia.
The tomato season had just ended but the fat juicy lemons ‒ the star ingredient in the famous limoncello liqueur ‒ still hung like jewelled globes from their pergolas made of chestnut trees; and on sea-fronting terraces everywhere, toute le monde was celebrating the good life with chilled goblets of Fiorduva, the celebrated white from the local boutique Marisa Cuomo winery.
In the end, despite the crush of tourists and room rates, there are any number of reasons to visit the Amalfi Coast year after year like my friend, Cathy. There is something wonderfully seductive about the place, especially in the mornings when dawn’s light spills off the limestone peaks like a benediction, and the ancient towns along its entire stretch begin to stir and awaken.
As I throw open the window shutters to my room at the Anantara Convento, I remember that the local greeting to someone important like Fra Marcus, is ‘Pace e bene’ ‒ peace and good. It’s a sentiment that I hold on to long after I’ve returned home, a dreamy memory of these all too brief, sunlit days.
This past April, the Thai hotel group, Anantara, took over management of the old Hotel dei Cappuccini in Amalfi, transforming and rebranding the landmark property ‒ originally a 13th-century Cappuchin monastery ‒ into the slick 52-room Anantara Di Amalfi Grand Hotel. The former monastic cells and refectory have been refurbished into splendid suites dressed in Cassina furniture, Artemide lamps, soft linen and antique tiles, whilst the kitchens turn out some of the best thin-crusted, wood-fired pizzas, and spaghetti vongole this side of gastronomic bliss. And if he’s available, book Fra Marcus for a fantastic tour of the hotel, including its extant chapel, as well as the fabulous Duomo in Amalfi Town.
Rates start at €1,600 in the high season.
WHERE TO EAT
Perhaps it’s the sunshine, but it almost feels as if every meal in the Amalfi Coast looks like it’s ready for a Vogue photo-shoot. Especially at Rossellinis, chef Giovanni Vanacore’s Michelin-starred perch at the posh, pink-hued Palazzo Avino in Ravello. Be sure to arrive in time for sunset drinks and literally mile-high views of the sea and distant Minori. The service is polished and attentive without being OTT, whilst the attention to detail is startling. There’s an actual water menu with at least 10 bottles of acqua on offer. And before the main pasta course was served, a forkful of pasta on a small plate arrived at the table. “Before he serves you the full portion, the chef would like you to check that the spaghetti has been cooked to your preferred level of al-dente-ness,” the server murmured.