Checking in to the new Anantara Convento di Amalfi Grand Hotel
The new Anantara Convento di Amalfi Grand Hotel is set in the 13th-century ex-convent of the Capuchins, high on the Amalfi coast cliffside. Rebecca Ann Hughes discovers what it has to offer.
Like all guests, I arrived at an unassuming glass door on the road side – but was then whisked up to the hotel itself in a lift and that when the magic started. Once dropped off at the hotel’s fifth floor, time started to unwind as I walked along a narrow arched corridor lined with wooden pews to reach the reception.
The hotel certainly makes the most of its privileged position on one of the world’s most-loved and sought-after stretches of coastline. A long panoramic terrace begins as a bar before segueing into the gourmet Dei Cappuccini restaurant, and in here, dinner starts with a generous bread selection including long bread sticks imitating monks quills and crackers as the paper. Vegetables (when in season) and herbs come from the chef’s garden below and enlivened dishes I tried such as crispy red mullet with bread and tomato. Breakfast is also served in the restaurant with pretty cakes and pastries, local cheese and fresh fruit laid out on brightly painted ceramic plates from a nearby artisan workshop.
I made sure I followed the flower-canopied Monk’s Walk which heads to the infinity pool via the hotel’s La Locanda della Canonica, a place where lunches of Italian classics such as Caprese salad can be enjoyed.
The hotel’s 52 rooms, crafted inside what were once monks’ cells, now feature simple but elegant furnishings in muted tones by made-in-Italy brands such as Concreta and Mantellassi. This allows the convent architecture – arched doorways, vaulted ceilings and tiled flooring – to take centre stage. Even so, the rooms don’t lack comfort, with an espresso machine, Acqua di Parma toiletries and of course, views of Amalfi. Some of the junior suites and the top suite dell’Eremita have a jacuzzi on their terraces.
The view from the restaurant is only topped by the spa, where massages are offered beneath a curtained canopy on an eighth floor terrace. Along with the other spa facilities, a pizzeria headed by renowned Neapolitan pizza chef Gino Sorbillo will open by the end of June providing a more informal dining experience.
Guests can learn how to make mozzarella and harvest the hotel’s lemon trees at a cooking class, while the more intrepid can take a walking tour with deeply knowledgeable local guide Vincenzo Giordano along the coastline’s lemon grove-lined paths.
The hotel can even arrange a unique tour of scenic villages of Amalfi by tuk-tuk, using a vintage Ape Calessino and exploring with a personal guide – it lasts three hours and there is even time to stop for a slice of pizza.
Entry level rooms start from €1,300 per night with breakfast.
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Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
Registered address: 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU
