'Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.’ So wrote John Steinbeck, who visited Positano in 1953. The breathtaking Amalfi coast consists of thirteen towns across the southern edge of Italy’s Sorrentine Peninsula. Famed for its colourful architecture clinging to the cliffside, this spectacular coastline has attracted the jet set for decades, including the likes of John Steinbeck, Jacqueline Kennedy and Gore Vidal.
Perched on the cliffside is the unique and indulgent hotel Le Sirenuse, run by Antonio and Carla Sersale, to honour Antonio’s late father’s vision. With its instagram-beloved mosaic swimming pool by Nicolas Party, the project is the 11th addition to the hotel’s ongoing site-specific commission series, led by art advisor Silka Rittson-Thomas. Party’s work, a meditative underwater world in mosaic is a joyful interpretation of the distinctive view of the sea and mountains as seen from the sun loungers. Previous commissions have featured international artists such as Stanley Whitney, Rita Ackermann, Alex Israel, Martin Creed, Matt Connors and Caragh Thuring.
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Around the coast and above busy marinas sits Sorrento with sweeping water views from Piazza Tasso, a cafe-lined square. The historic centre of narrow alleys leads to the Chiesa di San Francesco, a 14th-century church with a tranquil cloister. On a rock overlooking the Bay of Naples, the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria is set in a private Mediterranean park off the main square, with a lift directly to the harbour. To the north is Naples, where the Neapolitan identity is so distinct that Naples is often considered as separate from Italy.