Hotel of the Week: An 11th-Century Palace in Italy Reopens with Spectacular New Epicurean Concepts

Perched on the highest point in the medieval town of Ravello, Caruso, A Belmond Hotel, includes a jawdropping infinity pool that slices into the horizon, mirroring the same sapphire shade of blue as the sky and sea below. Sun loungers and cabanas line tiered terraces of recently launched La Piscina, the Amalfi Coast’s first private pool club, showing off view of the surrounding pastel villages that link Italy’s famous coastal drive.

While Positano and Amalfi swell with tourists in summer, Ravello is slightly less trodden, which is why everyone from Virginia Woolf to Jackie Kennedy, Humphrey Bogart, and Greta Garbo retreated to Caruso “to be alone,” as Garbo is quoted saying.

In the century-plus since namesake hotelier and vineyard owner Pantaleone Caruso converted the former palace into a hotel, privacy remains one of Caruso’s most alluring attributes. When Belmond took the reins 25 years ago, it enlisted Italian interior and garden designer Federico Forquet, who restored the historical foundation of the 11th-century Palazzo d’Afflitto and its vaulted ceilings, columns, and 18th-century frescoes that were camouflaged by lime plaster.

Forquet drew inspiration from the nearby ancient Roman towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii while also mirroring the Amalfi Coast’s landscape through a palette of gold and moss green punctuated by handmade Italian terracotta tiles and medieval-inspired bronze lighting. The result is a modern interpretation of a 19th-century Neapolitan seaside palazzi, or palace, complete with 50 restored rooms clad with neo-classical antiques.

This season, Belmond once again looked to the surrounding Campania region to guide the new Amalfi botanical-driven Adagio, A Caruso Bar, housed in a historic part of the palace and accented by an ancient fresco-painted ceiling and wall-length period mirrors. “With Adagio, we wanted to create a space where mixology becomes a slower, more mindful ritual inspired by the Amalfi Coast,” bar manager Tommaso Mansi tells Galerie. Cocktails play homage to Ravello’s role as the city of music with local citrus-focused libations like a limoncello, Prosecco, and lemon sorbet-infused drink dubbed the Wagner.

Extending along one of Caruso’s most photogenic terraces, gastronomic restaurant Il Pantaleone is the second half of Caruso’s latest additions. Executive chef Armando Aristarco’s culinary prowess has taken him from Bahrain to Singapore and Dubai, but now the Campania native is back on the Amalfi Coast. At the new destination restaurant, the chef is showcasing his region’s wealth of flavors and recipes through a reimagined take on traditional cuisine—a concept he calls “Antiqua Cucina Nova,” which is spearheaded by local ingredients and presented on dedicated handcrafted plates for an experience that feels Michelin minus the fuss.

Throughout the land-, sea-, and nature-themed tasting menus, each dish is designed to tell a story, from starters like raw and cooked vegetables mimicking Mount Vesuvius’s slopes and Cilento’s plains to white Campanian veal with sunkissed tomato pizzaiola sauce, a nod to Naples and the Lattari Mountains. “The vision behind Il Pantaleone and Antiqua Cucina Nova is to create a cuisine deeply rooted in the Mediterranean spirit while allowing it to evolve with elegance and creativity,” the chef explains. “We begin with the ingredient—the ‘chicca’ [or ‘gem’]—respecting its authenticity, seasonality, and origin, and from there we reinterpret memory, territory, and tradition through a contemporary lens.”