Taste, style and wonder within the walls of Palazzo Avino

It is now clear that a hotel is not just a place where you sleep. Until not too many years ago, even just ten or so, it was just like that. The hotel and its services were strictly reserved for those who booked a room. A home away from home, as they used to say. Fortunately, things have changed, and crossing the threshold of a hotel is the right thing to do! Especially when it comes to hotels that are the glory of Italy, that are famous throughout the world for their beauty and their location, for the history they exude and for the excellence they preserve, from food to art, from traditions to contemporary design. These grand hotels are visited, not as museums or monuments, but as places of delight, of socializing, of pleasant conviviality, for a coffee, an aperitif at sunset, a candlelit dinner, a pizza in front of the sea.

In a palace Palazzo Avino in Ravello has plenty of reasons to cross the threshold! It is a concentration of the passions of the young owners, Mariella and Attilia Avino, who never stop experimenting and updating their idea of ​​hospitality. And every year they open with new things, adding another piece to their never-finished project. Well, the structure itself is a masterpiece, a 12th-century palace with antique pink facades, immersed in a terraced garden overlooking the sea surrounded by the verdant Lattari Mountains. Of course, waking up in front of this landscape is quite satisfying for a traveler: it follows you everywhere, when you open the windows, while you have breakfast among the banana trees and kenzies, when you sunbathe or do a few laps in the pool. It never leaves you, it fills your eyes and by transitive property your soul. Sighing and repeating "How wonderful!" may seem redundant, but it comes naturally. After the reception, which looks like a church choir, down three steps between two ancient stone lions, you end up in a room with white walls, like pages of a book with words written in neon: Earth, Sailors, Tides, Comets, Heir…. They are from Joyce's Ulysses, here transformed into art by Joseph Kosuth to help that flow of consciousness that arises between reading and contemplating the sea outside.

Mariella is elegant, with shiny black hair and fiery red lipstick. Fashion is her passion, an inspiration also for hotel interventions, small collections, collaborations with big names, all tailored. After the capsule collection of suites with designer Cristina Celestino, they began working with architect Giuliano Dell'Uva, a Neapolitan expert in local craftsmanship. He put the rattan back in the Caffè dell'arte, as was once the custom, and recovered ancient hand-painted tiles for the elevator floor. But lucky is anyone who ends up in the Infinito suite with a private terrace (and hot tub) at the top of the turret that dominates everything and a white and green ceramic bathroom as big as the bedroom. The motif on the living room floor is instead one of her abstract works that is also shown in a hanging drawing. And why go out having maximum privacy here? No one sees you while from up there you see everything at 350 meters above sea level + 4 floors. But Mariella's taste has a special place in the Pink Closet, a concept store where she selects niche brands, such as the Florentine new entry Loretta Caponi, and personalized objects, such as Villeroy & Boch porcelain and ceramics by Vietri masters, up to the bandanas by Madame Pauline Vintage. The good thing about this "closet" full of refined and often shiny objects is that it is located outside the hotel, at the entrance to Ravello, where everyone inevitably passes by and the window certainly does not go unnoticed.

A toast overlooking the sea. Done. A Martini cocktail too. But once is not enough because they have a hundred on the list. A starred dinner...help, many say. But all doubts are dispelled when the tasting journey at Rossellinis begins. One dish better than the other, with a peak of enthusiasm when the buttons filled with bread cream and lemon arrive. Gorgeous, soft, flavor of the Amalfi Coast. In my humble opinion, it would deserve even more stars, for the truth of the flavors, for the freedom to choose from the menu, for the sensitivity of the chef Giovanni Vanacore. The Avino family, always present, but discreetly. From grandfather Giuseppe with his inseparable dachshund, to the new generation that has just turned one. Maria Vittoria is still in training, but sooner or later she will join her sisters Mariella and Attilia. Probably not all that glitters is gold, but creating a world in pink is a contagious optimism.

PS: As André Gide said? "Ravello is closer to the sky than it is far from the seashore." The sea is quickly reached, 15 minutes by shuttle. The club house, however, is only for guests residing at Palazzo Avino. Between terraces and gardens, it leads down to the steps to dive into the water. Naturally, white and pink umbrellas, attentive lifeguards and lounges to stay in the shade. The last stop is the restaurant for a "pasta a vongole" or a wood-fired oven-baked Margherita. Another little piece of happiness.