Sorrento, ItalySant'Agnello
Hotel Parco dei Principi di Sorrento
Modernist seaside hotel
Sant'Agnello Sorrento, Italy
Renovated
2004
Price
$$$
Rated for
Design Heritage ResortOutside the door
The house
Hotel RoyalModernist seaside hotel
Guests stay inside an inhabited 1962 modernist landmark, surrounded by cliffside botanical gardens overlooking the Bay of Naples.
What it’s good at
Exceptional
Gio Ponti oversaw every interior, matching custom furnishings to glazed majolica and ceramic pebbles.
Notable
An eighteenth-century Bourbon estate grounds this preserved 1962 landmark, restored in 2004.
Listed
Terraced gardens surround a clifftop seawater swimming pool and two wooden pier-solariums.
What they say
Also in Wallpaper*.
This clifftop hotel is a blue-and-white Mediterranean masterpiece tiled with thirty unique ceramic patterns that remain in tact to this day.
Somewhere quiet
Away from the crowds. Getting around takes intention.
On cliffside botanical grounds above the Bay of Naples, a twenty-minute walk from Sorrento's Piazza Tasso.
1 of 4
The rooms
Every bedroom has a unique floor, tiled in one of thirty geometric blue-and-white ceramic patterns.
The pool
Bring a swimsuit.
Gio Ponti designed this seawater pool with concrete lounging islands and a sculptural diving ladder rising from the water.
Blu Bar
White and blue ceramic pebbles line the bar walls beneath embossed plaques created by Fausto Melotti.
At the table
Breakfast and dinner are served beside floor-to-ceiling windows looking across the Gulf of Sorrento toward Mount Vesuvius.
How it began
Princess Elena Cortchacow once hosted lavish gatherings on the grounds, even starting a Gothic pavilion for Tsar Nicholas II.
Sorrento
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The app
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Our shorthand
How we rate hotels.
The medals
Gold
Extremely rare. Sets the global standard.
Silver
Brilliant execution. And we’re picky.
Bronze
They did this well. You’ll notice.
Listed
A defining trait. Makes the hotel what it is.
The eight vibes
Design
Built around a vision. Even the door handles have a designer.
Luxe
Cared for at every turn. The bath is drawn before you ask.
Local
It could only be here. You wake up knowing where you are.
Social
Where the city goes out. The bar is full and the night is young.
Heritage
A building with a story. Once a palace, a monastery, a station.
Wellness
You leave feeling new. Rest, sweat, soak and sleep like a stone.
Classic
The city grew up with it. Same rituals, same regulars, same bar.
Resort
A world of its own. Something to do from breakfast to nightcap.
The scene
Lively
Where things happen: restaurants, shops, people.
Central
Well-located: walkable to some things, a short ride to more.
Quiet
Away from the crowds. Getting around takes intention.
Secluded
A place apart: the property is the destination.