Famous across the globe for the beauty of its landscape, the picturesque village of Sant’Agata sui due golfi enjoys a breathtaking view over the Galli island and the two gulfs which separate Positano from Sorrento. Located in the heart of this old village, there’s a luxury hotel called Relais Don Alfonso 1890 which is a true corner of paradise; with its 8 suites beautifully decorated (the colour palette ranging from pink and yellow to white and orange) and elegantly furnished with antiques underpinning the aristocratic origin of the palace in which the hotel is set, the Relais Don Alfonso has plenty to offer; from the restaurant –best known for its Mediterranean cuisine and the huge picture windows that allow the tables to be bathed in warm southern light- to the Poet’s house, a lodge named after poet Salvatore Di Giacomo who used to spend his long summer holidays there, enjoying, like a true poet, the delights of the surrounding gardens.

Luxury Hotels near Amalfi and Sorrento: Relais Don Alfonso 1890

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If you were lucky enough to spend your Italian Easter in Naples, you may have had the chance to taste this traditional Neapolitan recipe from Campania - ricotta pie. Called la pastiera, the Italian dessert is made from shortcrust pastry, ricotta, candied fruits and the unusual ingredient of aroma of orange blossoms.

According to Barbara on Italian Notebook, you can buy the orange blossom aroma from pharmacies in Naples, while the ingredient itself is meant to represent “innocence, chastity, eternal love, marriage and fruitfulness” (from the days of the recipe being developed by nuns of the San Gregorio Armeno convent in Naples). The recipe is key to Neapolitan traditional cooking for Easter.

The recipe uses cooked durum wheat, otherwise you can buy it already pre-cooked. Ingredients for two pies are: 500 gr of flour, 250 gr of sugar, 250 gr of butter, three eggs and some vanilla powder or essence (for the pastry). For the filling: 500 gr of ricotta cheese, 275 gr of cooked durum wheat, 200 gr of milk, half a tablespoon of butter, five eggs, 250 gr of sugar, half a tablespoon of lemon zest and the same of orange zest, 25 gr of strega liqueur and 25 gr of rum.

Continue reading: Italian ricotta pie from Campania

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Spring is the best season to rejuvenate your body after a long and tiring winter. The grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria in Sorrento features a state of the art spa ( i.e. Boutique Spa La Serra) offering a wide range of reenergizing treatments including green coffee and lemon essential oils; these natural extracts -very effective for drawing out impurities and purging toxins from the skin- can do wonders for your skin texture; making it soft and smooth like silk. Strategically located, the Vittoria hotel offers guests breathtaking views over the Mediterranean Sea and a world class service. For more information click here.

La Serra holistic spa, grand hotel excelsior Vittoria, Sorrento

Continue reading: La Serra holistic spa, grand hotel excelsior Vittoria, Sorrento

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Located at Casamicciola, Ischia, the Terme Manzi Hotel & Spa is known for the elegance of its rooms and quality of its service. Guests can relax at the spa which offers a wide range of therapies and treatments or enjoy a mid-morning coffee, delicious lunch or superb dinner at the Bar Restaurant Bouganville. And, if you really want to Indulge yourself in a lifestyle of luxury, the The Terme Manzi Hotel & Spa has a fabulous suite called Garibaldi, with all of the feature comforts expected of a top-notch Ischia hotel!

Continue reading: Luxury hotels in Ischia: Terme Manzi Hotel & Spa, Casamicciola

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Set in a beautiful park, the Grand Hotel Paestum Tenuta Lupo at Carpaccio, near Salerno, is famous for the high quality of its service and the beauty of its interior. With the sea just a stone’s throw away, the hotel is strategically situated and provides its guests with additional services and amenities, including two swimming pools. For more information click here.

Continue reading: Luxury hotels in Campania: Grand Hotel Paestum Tenuta Lupò, near Salerno

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This is not the first time that a movie increases tourism; in the recent past, it has happened with the Lord Of The Ring trilogy, the Harry Potter saga and Ridley Scott’s A Good Year, so it did not surprise us at all when a few months ago a Japanese movie called Amalfi Megami no Hoshu brought more Japanese tourists to the Amalfi coast which, movie apart, is one of the most enchanting places on earth! But this is not all, many of those tourists, still under the spell of what they had seen on the silver screen, booked their stay at the Santa Caterina hotel where several scenes of the above movie were filmed! Well, there’s no doubt that movies can play a significant role in people’s decision on where to spend their summer holidays!

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The new Ferrari “Pit Stop” store, as it’s called, is all about luxury Italian accessories from the world of Ferrari motorsport. Despite controversy over how the 2010 F1 season finished up for the Italian brand, the world still can’t get enough of the prancing horse, as proved by the mega Ferrari World theme park in Abu Dhabi, and smaller initiatives like this Ferrari store at the foot of Mount Vesuvius in Italy.

Replacing the corporate and top class Ferrari paraphernalia is a hardcore, racing fan’s dream. The store itself has been designed to reflect pit lane, F1 trackside garages and includes design materials to create that industrial feel. That feature contrasts with the store’s location though, at Vulcano Buono, Nola. The store has been built into the surrounding countryside and while it has a 40-metre tall structure designed to mirror the shape of Mt Vesuvius, it’s covered in sloping vegetation which blends into the agricultural and natural landscape.

Luca di Montezemolo opened the store, along with representatives from Ferrari and the local and regional government. Ferrari Scuderia driver Giancarlo Fisichella arrived with a Ferrari California and then tested out the Virtual Academy simulator. The Ferrari Pit Stop store is the first of its kind, although others to be built around the world are expected to follow.

Source | Autoblog.com

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The Amalfi coast is famous for the beauty of its landscape and the quality of its hotels; there’s a wide range of luxurious hotels from which one can choose, but ( in my opinion at least) Casa Angelina at Praianois one of the best. Elegantly decorated and furnished with ultra-modern furniture, this five-star hotel which has 43 rooms and a lift with a view over the sea provides incomparable service and splendid amenities, including a unique collection of paintings and sculptures. For more information click here.

Continue reading: Luxury hotels on the Amalfi coast: Hotel Casa Angelina, Praiano

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Nestled above the Amalfi coast, the beautiful town of Ravello has always been a great favourite with the glitterati and Anglo-American expatriates (writer Gore Vidal lived here for years). So if you want to mix with the rich and famous and at the same time spend a few days of rest in one of the world’s most enchanting resorts, the hotel Palazzo del Sasso with its luxury rooms, state of the art spa and a mesmerising view of the Mediterranean sea is the place to be. For further information please click here.

Source | Palazzosasso.com

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Good news for the parks here in Italy; two more sites have in fact just been added to the Unesco ’s world heritage site list. Actually we are talking about the Global Network of National Geoparks which is backed by Unesco and comprises 77 protected natural areas across the world; the two new Italian entries are the Cilento and Vallo del Diano park, which is located in the Apennine mountains and offers rich geological diversity and outstanding sites of mountainous landscapes, cave formations and coastal features, and the Tuscan Mining Park, famous for being the most important mining district in central Italy. This Unesco list includes five more Italian parks among which are the Madonie, Beigua Park in Liguria and Rocca di Cerere in Sicily.

Source | La Stampa

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