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Wanderlust

Amalfi Coast insider guide

21 January 2020

Your Destination Wedding goals begins here!

WHERE TO STAY 

Truly great hotels have the capacity to reassure, like sanctuaries remaining unchanged in a fast-changing world, but should also be able to surprise and inspire. Le Sirenuse does all this and more, offering the elegance, traditions and grand trappings of an aristocratic summer villa, but always with a twist. This destination hotel – with its evolving collection of contemporary art, Michelin-starred restaurant and vintage Riva boat offered to everyone who books a suite – is certainly deserving of all its accolades. Join the young and beautiful queuing around the block for a table on the high open terrace at Franco’s Bar, overlooking the town and Tyrrhenian Sea below.

Further up near the Path of the Gods, you’ll find the rarefied, artistic musical enclave of Ravello, which has hosted every writer and artist from D.H. Lawrence to Gore Vidal. Hole up at the charming Palazzo Avino and spoil yourself with spaghetti alle vongole in the hotel’s beach club, followed by an aperitivo in the Lobster & Martini Bar, set beside the heavenly gardens with peerless views across the coast.

Casa Privata is a restored fisherman’s ruin turned into a six-bedroom retreat, often booked as a unique rental for weddings and landmark birthdays. Situated on a steep and peaceful cliffside in Praiano, between Positano and Amalfi, it is built onto a series of terraced gardens, making it the dream hideaway for those seeking seclusion and peace.

THE RESTAURANT 

Explore the narrow back streets of Ravello for real local flavors: steaming minestrone or homemade ravioli at Cumpa Cosimo. Ravello is the exclusive aristocratic haunt of writers and artists, but everyone rubs shoulders happily and democratically at this family trattoria, where Mamma rules with a rod of iron and a hint of a smile. (Via Roma, 44, 84010 Ravello; +39 089 857156)

THE BEACH HANGOUT 

The super-yacht tenders head to the honeypot trattoria that is Da Adolfo for the thrill of just-caught sea urchins and the signature mozzarella grilled in lemon leaves. But you can also hail a taxi-boat or wait for the gozzo (the trattoria’s personalized fishing boat, complete with the legendary red fish ‘Da Adolfo’ insignia) from Positano, which chugs along to the tiny beach where sunbeds cover the sand.

THE “MUST-DO”

Hike the Path of the Gods – 1800 steps upwards from Positano to the village of Nocelle, past the hair-netted terraces of lemon and olive trees – so that you are at eye-level with falcons and goldfinches alike. After your hike, reward yourself with a bowl of zuppa saracena at Il Ritrovo.

TAKE HOME

Explore the town of Vietri and its Solimene factory for ceramics. The Cotto Rufoli factory near Ogliara – a favorite of Dolce & Gabbana – makes bright terracotta tiles for hotels including Le Sirenuse, hand-baking them in kilns following a tradition that goes back centuries.

SOURCE: Porter Magazine

BEHIND THE LENS

photo credit: greg finck

MEET
GABRIELE

Scripting electric storylines in Milan's designer-scene Gabriele's stylistic approach culls from fashion-campaigns & photojournalism.
His wedding images tap on the modern side of Love meld with
Italianate sapor.

As a fashion portraitist I've treaded between reality and fantasy, identity and inclusivity, time, space, culture and (be)longing. These all influenced how I photograph real people, urging me to create images that offer -in their simplicity- a connective tissue and counterpoint to my subjects. I tell stories of how chance encounters between strangers come to form families, and capture how their shared space, experiences, values and time bring about the little magic the future needs. It's all very Italian, and so universal at the same time. 

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