Perched on the hillside above Portofino's harbor, a former Benedictine monastery that dates to the sixteenth century was transformed over subsequent centuries into a private villa before becoming, in 1901, the hotel that would define the Ligurian Riviera's particular strain of aristocratic ease. Splendido, A Belmond Hotel, cascades down the terraced hillside in successive levels of salmon-washed stucco, iron-railed balconies dense with bougainvillea and wisteria, the massing less monumental than intimate — a grand house that happens to have grown larger over time. From the open-air restaurant terrace, iron bistro chairs and white-clothed tables frame one of the most recognizable views in Italian hospitality: the wooded promontory and bobbing masts of the harbor below, pinned between maritime pine and the silver-blue Ligurian Sea. The interiors move between two registers. In the more recently refreshed suites, walls washed in soft peach carry gilded Baroque headboards and Murano glass chandeliers draped with florals, the effect an unapologetic celebration of Italianate grandeur, daybeds in buttercup-yellow brocade positioned to catch the sea light through French-shuttered doors. In the standard guestrooms, the palette quiets to ivory and sage, Murano fittings scaled back to a single candelabra chandelier, parquet floors grounding the lightness of embroidered floral bed runners and brass wall sconces. The infinity pool, cut into the lower garden terrace, dissolves at its edge into a view of cypress, umbrella pine, and the faint line of the open sea.

No travel notes provided yet.

No description provided yet.