Mr & Mrs Smith

Monastero Santa Rosa

Amalfi Coast, Italy

The painstaking renovation of Monastero Santa Rosa, a 17th-century monastery, has resulted in a unique Amalfi boutique hotel steeped in history, lavished with top-quality furnishings, and set in gloriously scented tiered gardens. Perched dramatically on the edge of a sheer cliff above that blue, blue Bay of Salerno in the fishing village of Conca dei Marini, the 20 ocean-view rooms and Santa Maria Novella-stocked  spa are remarkably spacious and utterly romantic.

Need to know

• Rooms 20, including eight suites.
• Rates Double rooms from AU$725.17 (€550), excluding tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €3.50 per person per night on check-out.
  The price shown represents the lowest nightly rate for a double room available at this hotel over the next 21 days. Any price conversions from the hotel's local currency (€550) have been conducted using today's exchange rates from xe.com.
• More details Rates usually include breakfast.
• Facilities Spa and fitness facilities, free WiFi throughout. In-room: flatscreen TV, mini fridge.
• Poolside Infinity pools don’t come more stunning than the heated one here that is more like its own shoreline melting into the azure Amalfi sky-meets-sea horizon: Wander onto its beach-like edge then perch and enjoy an unfettered panorama from the direction of Ravello to Positano. Inside the spa there is a heated hydrotherapy pool.
• Check-out 11am, but flexible, subject to availability.
• Children Over-12s are welcome, although the hotel is more suited to romantic escapes.
• Also No pets are allowed at the hotel. The spa is a destination in its own right, if only for a noseful of the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella unguents and a whirl in the thermal spa (Finnish sauna, steam room, ice fountain and more).

Food and drink at Monastero Santa Rosa

• Hotel restaurant

  Santa Rosa Ristorante wows with Campania flavours done simply but perfectly, many of the organic ingredients picked from the hotel’s own gardens. When it’s chef Christoph Bob who is behind your homemade spaghetti with vegetables and baby squid expect the spectacular; even his wild strawberry take on cheesecake is an extraordinary interpretation – he was plucked from Alain Ducasse’s thrice Michelin-starred restaurant at the Plaza Athénée in Paris. As one might expect, the wine cellar has among its 400 varieties some incredible local wines such as Furore’s DOC white or red are delicious, as well as world-famous award winners.

• Dress code No need to be catwalk-fit: off-duty but elegant should do the trick.
• Top table Since the hotel’s terrace enjoys one of the most special Amalfi Coast views possible, if the weather lets you go alfresco, any of the sea-view tables are benissimo. Inside, a corner of the intimate vaulted dining room is especially romantic.
• Last orders Breakfast ends at a civilised 10.30pm; lunch is flexible throughout the day and dinner runs 7.30pm–10.30pm.
• Room service Pick at sandwiches, pasta, bigger-deal meals and sweet treats around the clock.
• Hotel bar

  Take one relaxed lounge bar, add a watery sunset or starlit sky and you may concur that all that’s missing from toast-worthy scene is a Monastero Martini (vanilla vodka, white cocoa cream, limoncello, fresh cream milk) or a Conca cosmopolitan (vodka, Cointreau, limoncello, cranberry juice). Local wines weren’t worth mentioning until recently: now the hotel can showcase an excellent new generation in its presentation wine cellar.

Monastero Santa Rosa 2 Via Roma, Conca dei Marini, Campania, 84010