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THE TEMPLES OF THE COCKTAIL MARTINI
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Hotel Caruso- Ravello
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A piece of Heaven on Earth: this may describe the fascination of Ravello and of its undoubtedly best hotel: the 'Caruso'. You can't avoid falling in love with its marvellous 'Infinity Pool', perched 360+metres over the Amalfi coast |
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A place like this deserves a Martini of the highest quality, and Tommaso, the excellent bartender of the Caruso, showed us that he can really play with the best in the world. Great! |
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Anna and I were there to celebrate in style our 25th Anniversary; staying four nights I had the chance to interact in a very pleasant way with Tommaso, every evening changing the mix of the Martini from a standard Tanqueray Ten to Botanist, from Beefeater's premium Crown Jewel to No.3 and a vodka Martini mixed with the tasty 'Imperial', every time it was a pleasant surprise. |
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Tommaso owns a beautiful lemon orchard on the coast of Amalfi and he kindly donated us some of his wonderful limoni sfusati. It was therefore impossible for me to refuse his educate suggestion to put a lemon zest in my Martini, as a tribute to the magnificent fruit of the Costiera; he is therefore the only other person, with Alessandro Palazzi at the Dukes, to be allowed such a variation to 'my' Martini |
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Tommaso's realm: the Caruso's well-stocked bar. Bottom right some very interesting bottles, from Xzellent Swiss vodka to the normal strength Blackwoods, Belvedere, Botanist, Hendriks'... |
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...and a nice parade of premium gins |
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Positano.... |
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It's only right that one of the most beautiful locations in the world, Positano, has also some fascinating restaurants. Franco's, near the Sirenuse, not only offers you a splendid 'Fantastice', (a wordplay between 'fantastico' and 'astice', i.e. lobster) that is a burger that's vastly superior to the (too often) overrated lobster roll offered to the tourists in Maine, but also sports the best-looking and most courteous staff of any restaurant on the Costiera |
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You can only rejoice at being there with a glass of wine and a lobster or tuna sandwich |
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Back to Caruso |
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The Caruso's restaurant is not only graced with a spectacular view over the Costiera Amalfitana, it's also a top-grade, star-level place with some incredibly tasty seafood specialties like this Tartara di Gamberi.... |
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...and this Pescato del Giorno', an excellent mix of fish, crustaceans, vegetables, all very good and in a copious quantity |
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The pizza that we ate on the terrace overlooking the pool was exquisite, obviously |
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Let's be honest, how can you avoid to smile when you are in such a delightful place? Caruso combined in one elegant package everything that one can desire in a top-class luxury hotel: superb location, beautiful, airy rooms, perfect maintenance, an really thorough care for the customers in every detail, an incredible pool, a superb restaurant...and to top all this, a bartender that really knows his stuff |
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Toasting to 25 years of love together on the balcony overlooking the Amalfi Coast |
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You will never see lemons as big and tasty as Tommaso's own... |
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"Dressing well is a form of good manners"- Tom Ford |
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Happy Anniversary, Anna! 25 years of strong, unremitting love.... |
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Totò de Curtis said exactly what we thought during our stay at the Caruso. It is one of the very few hotels in the world that I was really sorry to leave. Needless to say, we are already planning to come back ASAP |
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2022 |
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Caruso is a Paradise, and we kept our promise to get back in 2022 |
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The first meal, arriving in the morning has to be a pizza. I LOVE pizza and the one at Caruso is simply stunning. It is as good as it looks |
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7 p.m., Martini time! Tommaso was waiting with a substantial array of gins to show his dexterity. The cart is a welcome novelty, in the tracks of Alessandro Palazzi's similar cart at the Dukes Tommaso is quite on the same level and he is clearly passionate about his job. He is clearly one of my favourite accomplices in having a perfect Martini mixed before my eyes |
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Not only a splendid Martini... Cristoforo Trapani is now the Chef at Caruso (formerly he was at Byron's in Forte dei Marmi) and prepared for my Martini a splendid array of excellent crudi di pesce |
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A very, very civilised Martini |
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One of the best Zuppa di Pesce I ever had. Colourful as well |
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Cristoforo Trapani and Anna |
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The Garden of Klingsor! Wagnerian references abound in Ravello, and this is straight out of Parsifal's second act |
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The stunning entrance of Villa Rufolo by night |
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The Costiera towards Salerno by night |
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Tommaso provides not only a nice selection of gins, but also an even better selection of premium whiskeys, some of the Cask Strength. Stunning |
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We couldn't miss the opportunity, kindly offered by Caruso to its guests, to have a boat trip to Positano. The trip was nice, Positano, on the other hand, way too crowded. L'enfer sont les autres, remarked JP Sartre... |
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Positano, though overcrowded by overweight, overnoisy tourists, is still a fascinating stage |
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An unmissable selfie |
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Dr Pacifico, the Director of Caruso, and Anna |
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The third evening we were at Caruso, after the Plymouth and the 'Crown Jewel' Beefeater, Tommaso prepared my next Martini with the Citadel gin. Despite being French, it was good |
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The charming lady on the left is Viviana, GEM of Caruso. Elegance personified |
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Well, what can we say? Caruso is exactly what every cultured traveller could hope for, and then some. It's a jewel of a hotel nested in one of world's most fascinating locations, it's impeccably maintained, everything is above first class and managers, directors, staff are ALL astonishingly helpful. This confirms also the dedication of Belmond Hotel in creating a network of hotels that are not simply expensive, luxurious or glitzly: class is the name of the game, here. Principe de Curtis was right: I wish I could stay at the Hotel Ravello all my life. We heartily agree. |
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Caruso
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