Le Sirenuse

Seldom has there been a name more poetic or appropriate. Rising out in the dreamy, sun drenched seaside town of Positano, covered with climbing grape trellises, the appellation for this eighteenth century summer house is simply Italian for “the sirens.”

Despite its location, Le Sirenuse is quiet, isolated from the local traffic and apparently from most tourists. Nonetheless, we love the fact that it is part of Positano, a town that is constructed like an amphitheater — houses literally cut into the cliff, each one with an unobstructed view over the next one, and stairs instead of streets. The narrow, heated lap-pool gazes out on this strange, pastel place and then further out to the sea. Small as the pool is, you could linger in the water, watching, until your skin shrivels.

Le Sirenuse is remarkably un-hotel-like. For two hundred and fifty years it was the summer house of the noble Neapolitan family Marchese Sersale, who still run the hotel. Inside, it is simple and lovely, with an authenticity so unpretentious it is almost careless. This is not your typical historic hotel. The floors are glazed tile, the windows are delicately scalloped, and the pale-hued bedrooms have plain white beds and antiques that have been lovingly compiled since the family first moved here. The bar is small and, just as in the restaurant, vines of grape and bougainvillea have crept up its walls.

Le Sirenuse, by the way, is generally acknowledged to have the best seafood restaurant in town. It's a pleasure even without the food with its emerald tiled floor, terracotta vases and plenty of sunlight painting the bleached, domed ceiling. But the menu, which includes dishes like spaghetti alla vongole, is like the rest of the hotel — unfussy and ethereal.

Get a room with a balcony, and if possible, a bath that faces the sea. The Mediterranean takes on a mythical shade of blue here. John Steinbeck, one of the hotel's first guests in 1953, wrote “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.”

Please note: Le Sirenuse is open seasonally from April thru October. Children under the age of six are not allowed at Le Sirenuse.

How to get there: Car service to Le Sirenuse is available from Naples-Capodichino International Airport or from the Naples central train station. The trip from Naples takes one hour.