Ravello holiday apartment

Mu husband and I had a wonderful time in Ravello. The apartment is lovely -- beautiful large double doors lead out to the terrace from both the living room and the master bedroom. The furnishings are lovely, the kitchen well equipped, and the whole apartment immaculately clean. The incredible thing, though, is the spectacular view, which is even better than the photo on the website. The terrace is long, and stretches along the length of the apartment. The view is a panorama of the mountains, the beautiful hills and valleys of the countryside, and the sea. Truly magnificient. One evening of our stay, there was a fireworks display from one of the nearby towns, launched from the sea. We had a perfect view! Truly a magical place.

The apartment is just above a road which gets a fair bit of motorbike and car traffic (no buses, happily!). We did not find it a problem -- it's pretty typical of roads in southern Italy.

Ravello itself is charming. During our week at the apartment, we visited several other towns on the Amalfi coast (Amalfi, Positano, Salerno, and spent a day at the beautiful beach at Maiori -- all easily accessible using local buses or boats, as you choose), and Ravello was above and away the most charming and peaceful, with the most spectacular views. Yes, there are tourists, but you also have a strong local feeling -- at night, children were riding bikes and playing games in the square -- a real family time. The restaurants we tried were really good. We felt very welcome everywhere we went.

We attended two performances at the annual Ravello summer music festival, which were wonderful both musically and for the setting. They were held outdoors, one in a courtyard of the Ruffalo Villa, and the other at a special concert stage set up on the grounds of the villa overlooking the sea.

Finally, Diego and his family were phenomenal. Raffaela (Diego's sister) was wonderful helping with arrangements before we got to Italy, and made a point to telephone during our stay to check that everything was going well. Diego met us at the airport, brought us to Ravello, and throughout could not have been kinder or more welcoming. He took us to the supermarket to buy groceries upon our arrival, told us about events (like the fireworks display), and went "above and beyond" at the end of our trip, helping us find our impossible-to-find hotel in Naples. And his parents, who came by to welcome us, were so very warm and kind! A wonderful time!