A family-run hotel built down the cliff east of Positano, where every room has a sea-view terrace and a lift runs through the rock to a private cove.
Il San Pietro sits a couple of minutes outside Positano, which is exactly why it works. You look back at the town stacked up the hillside rather than living in its crowds, and a free shuttle runs into the centre at all hours when you want a wander. Every room is different, with local hand-painted tiles and a furnished terrace facing the sea.
The days organise themselves around the water. A lift cut into the cliff drops you from the lobby to the beach club and the tennis court at sea level, and from May to mid-October there is a free two-hour boat trip along the coast most mornings, with a swim stop. Dinner at Zass is the formal event of the week; Carlino, down by the water, is where we would eat on the other nights.
It is not a place for small children, who need to be 10 or over, and it closes for the winter. The cliff setting also means plenty of steps between terraces, so anyone with limited mobility should tell us before we choose a room. For couples and families with teenagers who want the Amalfi Coast at its most polished without staying in the middle of Positano, it is our first suggestion.
Individually designed rooms with handmade ceramics, modern bathrooms and a private terrace with table and chairs looking out to sea.
Roomier categories with larger bathrooms in Italian marble or local terracotta tiles, and furnished sea-view terraces.
Rooms designed by Fausta Gaetani with generous bathrooms and wide views along the coast.
Spacious rooms with large terraces; the Positano-view versions look across to the town and out to Li Galli and Capri.
The hotel's signature suites. Suite 59 fills a whole floor, with its own entrance to the pool and direct lift access.
Zass is the formal restaurant, where chef Alois Vanlangenaeker cooks creative Mediterranean dishes built on local produce, much of it from the hotel's own gardens; long trousers are required for men. Carlino sits by the sea and serves more traditional cooking. Drinks and small plates from the Bits & Bites food truck are served on the Grand Terrace, and the cellar holds more than 600 labels.
A small spa set under a lemon orchard offers massages and treatments, with a Finnish shower and Turkish bath. The gym is part indoor, part open-air, and a free yoga or Pilates class runs by the sea every morning from 09:00.
Children are welcome from the age of 10. Younger children cannot be accommodated.
| Season | Generally open April to October |
|---|---|
| Children | From age 10 |
| Beach | Private cove reached by a lift through the cliff |
| Town shuttle | Complimentary, 24 hours a day, plus a water shuttle to Positano |
| Boat trip | Complimentary two-hour coastal cruise, May to mid-October, except Sundays |
| Arrival | By road, with free guest parking, or by sea at the hotel's own dock |
| Sport | Sea-level tennis court, pool, gym |
Positano, Amalfi Coast, Italy
A few of the things we plan for guests in Italy.
The coast road is slow in summer, so see the coast from a boat. A private day takes in the Li Galli islands, the narrow inlet at Furore and a swim stop below Praiano, with lunch at a beach restaurant reachable only by sea. Go on a weekday in late May, June or September, when the water is warm and the ferries are less full.
South of Siena, the Val d'Orcia is the Tuscany of cypress avenues and rolling wheat fields. Base yourself in a farmhouse near Pienza, buy pecorino in the village, and spend a day tasting Brunello in Montalcino and Vino Nobile in Montepulciano with a driver. September and October bring the grape harvest and a softer, lower light.
Venice changes completely once the day visitors leave. Stay at least two nights so you can walk across Piazza San Marco at seven in the morning and spend evenings in the bacari of Cannaregio eating cicchetti. November to March is cold and misty but the city is at its calmest.
Three nights in Rome between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps, with a private guide for the Vatican and the Forum, then the fast train south and five nights on the cliff outside Positano with a lift down to the sea.
Four nights on an organic farm estate in southern Tuscany, with a spa that uses its own herbs, then three inside the walls of an Umbrian castle with a candlelit bathhouse in the old wine cellars. Siena and Montalcino in between.
Tell us your dates and who is travelling. We will check availability, suggest the right room and send a price.
