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| Casa Raffaele Conforti |
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| Maiori - Salerno - Amalfi, Capri & Sorrento |
| Seaside |
| Number of rooms: 9 |
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It is possible, even on the Amalfi Coast, to find a hotel that has been kept secret. To find one that is packed full with character such as the Casa Raffaele Conforti is even harder but we have succeeded with this little gem of a villa. 9 rooms, most of which keep the original frescoes from the first half of the 1800s, include the antique furniture and complementary air of yesteryear; this small and charming hotel has been held as it was in something akin to a time-warp.
Maiori, whilst having some advantages over other towns along the Amalfi Coast such as a more authentic environment and lower prices, will never, we freely admit, be able to compete with Positano or Amalfi itself on pure beauty terms. Maiori’s treats though, are a little subtler and the Casa Raffaele Conforti is surely one of them.
The Signor himself, Raffaele Conforti, was a lemon producer who understood better than anyone else just how fertile the terrain of this area was. He invested and expanded his family plots until he became quite the big character in the town and, to demonstrate his position, commissioned the building of this house, complete with the best of local craftsmen who were to cover almost every square inch of the floors with the beautiful tile-work typical of Amalfi and Vietri. The furniture too, was commissioned for the house and many of these original pieces remain in both the bedrooms and lounge area.
The villa is a restored private house and consequently the rooms are each unique and of different sizes though generally on the large side. Most of them feature the original frescoes from the mid-1800s meaning the Casa Raffaele Conforti really is a wonderful chance to absorb one of the lighter sides of history. The bathrooms, however, have all been re-modelled and provide the quality and amenities which one would expect in a four star hotel.
Staying in the hotel is really about a trip back in time (no elevator either!) and we loved it for the fact that it remains one of the best preserved examples of a historic villa that we have seen and, for a quality, charming hotel on the Amalfi Coast, very reasonably priced. Yet another nice touch is breakfast, taken each morning on the terrace to make the most of that glorious Mediterranean weather. All in all a real gem of a place!
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Maiori has the longest beach on the Amalfi coast meaning you don’t need to pay a fortune to be squeezed up against your “neighbour”! Spread out and enjoy that wonderful sunshine. If, after your sunbathing, you feel the need for a little more action there are plenty of things to do in the area.
Amalfi (4 miles/6km) and Ravello (6 miles/9km) are both very close and offer many opportunities for shopping and wandering and pure enjoyment of the views.
Positano at 16 miles/24km is also easily reachable and well worth the visit. In fact Maiori provides a great base in which to explore much of the surrounding area Pompeii is within easy reach back towards Naples (1 hour by car) for one of the finest Roman sites in the world. Pompeii opens every day at 8.30am bar the 1st January, 1st May and 25th December when it is closed. Winter (1st November – 31st March) closing time is 5pm and 7.30pm at all other times.
If you prefer the Greek world then Paestum 1-1½ hours south towards Agrigento is another world class site with ancient Greek temples rising out of grassy fields that in spring and earlier summer are dashed with wild flowers. An extraordinary setting and a wonderfully calm place to visit. Stop at one of the many mozzarella producers on the road between Battipaglia and the site itself for an introduction to what the real version of this cheese is all about (by Italian law mozzarella has to be made from buffale or water-oxen and it’s out of this world!)
Vietri sul Mare, the home of southern Italian tiles is just 9 miles (15km) from Maiori and makes a great trip to see the workshops where the tiles and beautiful pottery bowls, plates and cups are still made by hand and painted with all kinds of traditional styles from the Arab-influenced geometric patterns to swirling flowers and foliage motifs.
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Driving can be exhilarating in Italy and here in the south it can be both incredible for the views and truly exasperating for the traffic and manner in which the locals move their caffeine-fuelled machines through the traffic. If you approach from Naples the easiest route is to take the A3 highway (ie not exiting towards Sorrento) in the direction of Salerno. Take the first Salerno exit and follow directions for Vietri sul Mare and subsequently the SS163 road towards Amalfi. There’s only one road from here on so you can’t go wrong, just stay on the SS163 for a further 15km until you arrive in Maiori. Turn right into the main street (SP2 or sometimes indicated as Via Nuova Provinciale Chiunzi). The hotel is located in Via Casa Mannini, the third turning on the left.
Public transport is perfectly manageable too, trains arrive in Salerno, 23km south along the coast and Sita buses travel from there all the way up the Amalfi Coast with a stop-off in Maiori.
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| Please feel free to send us your personal hotel review on this hotel. You may wonder why all the assessments we have on line are positive. Well, apart from the simple fact that we try to include only what we consider to be the best accommodations, there’s another important reason to bear in mind. Any hotel that receives 3 negative feedbacks is automatically taken out of our selection. |
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