Fairytale Romance On The Amalfi Coast: Villa Treville Hotel Review

Italy’s Amalfi Coast has become so popular over the last decade that it’s almost unvisitable in peak season… unless you know the right spots to shoot for as the crowds flock to the major hubs. And one of those spots is right on the doorstep of the most crowded hub of all. Rebecca Cox checks in. 

Villa Treville Positano has all the ingredients for a relaxing holiday, but it’s almost too beautiful to be relaxing. Every view demands a photograph, every nook requires exploration. It’s impossible to lie in when the sun rises, turning the sky from pink to blue as golden light hits the spectacular view of Positano town right outside your window. How can you relax in your room when the sparkling Mediterranean is waiting for you to dive in from the sun deck? But Villa Treville is a home first and a hotel second. Once your post-arrival giddiness subsides, you’ll discover one of the last remaining peaceful – and, yes, relaxing – spots on Italy‘s Amalfi Coast.

Throwback: Robert Ullman on the lower terrace of Villa Bianca, now the Callas Suite

A Historic Home

The Italian film and opera director Franco Zeffirelli bought Villa Treville in 1969 and kept it as his private residence and retreat until 2007, gradually transforming it over almost four decades. His guest list reads like a 20th-century hall of fame: Maria Callas, Leonard Bernstein, Rudolf Nureyev, Coco Chanel, Liza Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

The estate is spread across four villas – Villa Bianca, Villa Rosa, Villa Azzurra and Villa Tre Pini – linked by terraced gardens that descend down the cliff to the sea. After Zeffirelli sold it in 2007, the Italian hotelier Giovanni Russo converted it into a hotel, and in 2013 it was bought by the Friedland family, who own it today.

That heritage is everywhere today. The Moroccan-inspired tiles were designed by the architect and decorator Renzo Mongiardino. The filigree furniture in Bianca Bar, and the Zeffirelli Suite comes from Zeffirelli’s own Syrian collection, which he left behind when he sold the villa. Maestro’s (the hotel’s restaurant) was once his choice for his own gatherings, Bianca Bar was his personal salon, and suites are named after his famous friends, such as Callas and Bernstein. It still feels more like the director’s home than a hotel.

The Zeffirelli Suite still houses the director’s own library, among its tile artwork and inlaid furniture. This year the hotel also partnered with Assouline on a book, Villa Treville Positano, which honours Zeffirelli’s ‘Dream World’ and offers a glimpse of the villa’s storied past.

Throwback: Maestro Zeffirelli with Liza Minnelli, Eduardo De Filippo, Raimonda Gaetani, Tennessee Williams

A Modern Icon

There are hotels in Positano where you go to be seen, and then there are those you go to see. All guests sign a privacy agreement on arrival, agreeing not to compromise the privacy of any recognisable faces they spot around the 16 suites. The chances are high, but I couldn’t possibly share more.

The staff – around 75 of them in peak season – create such a feeling of warmth and familiarity that you wouldn’t want to disturb anyone else. The feeling is of being hosted at a (very wealthy and very attentive) friend’s villa.

Zeffirelli Suite (c) Dan Kullberg

The Rooms

There are 16 suites across nine categories, from Junior Suites to the Zeffirelli Four Bedroom Suite with its own plunge pool. Rates run from €830 a night for a Junior Suite in low season to €27,000 a night for the Zeffirelli Four Bedroom Suite at the height of summer.

There are no dud rooms, though. (You would hope not at these rates.) Each one is completely unique, which gives you another reason to plan a return. My suite was Nijinsky, a Signature Junior Suite named after Vaslav Nijinsky, the Ballets Russes star and perhaps the most famous male dancer of the 20th century. In the early 1900s he practised in this very room, on a wooden floor that the impresario Sergei Diaghilev had installed especially for him. Nothing from that era survives but the name, and the view, which is one of a kind.

I am a sucker for a spectacular hotel bathroom, but the Level 3 basement bathroom, with its freestanding bath, separate shower and steam room, is only the second-best thing about this suite. The two large shuttered windows open onto surely the best hotel-room view on the Amalfi Coast: the cove at Arienzo and Positano itself, sparkling just around the corner. The bedside windowsill is wide enough to sit on with a coffee, so breakfast in bed is a must if you follow in our footsteps and check into the Nijinsky Suite.

The view from my room, Nijinsky (c) Rebecca Cox

Every suite comes with: a Carrara marble bathroom with a maiolica-tiled walk-in shower, handmade organic aromatherapy toiletries, goose-down bedding and 400-thread-count Egyptian cotton linens and bathrobes, a Dyson hairdryer, a Tivoli radio, a Bluetooth speaker and smart TV, and a minibar stocked with organic snacks and soft drinks. Breakfast, a welcome drink, evening turndown and 24-hour WhatsApp chat with the team are all also included. 

There’s more to come in June 2027: Villa Maura, a 17th-century house that has been part of the estate since 2020, opens after a careful restoration as a ‘hotel within a hotel’, adding five suites, with seven bedrooms in all, named after five iconic women: Liza Minnelli, Monica Bellucci, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren and Jacqueline Onassis. Book a suite on its own, or take the whole villa exclusively as a five-or seven-bedroom residence with a private chef, still connected to the hotel’s service.

Maestro’s (c) Dan Kullberg

Maestro’s & Bianca’s

There are two main places to eat and drink. Maestro’s sits on a vine-covered terrace at Villa Azzurra, looking out to sea and the Li Galli islands, and was once Zeffirelli’s choice for his own gatherings. Bianca Bar fills the Salone Bianca, once his personal salon: a dazzling-white, Moorish-inspired room of mirrors and filigree furniture from Zeffirelli’s own Syrian collection.

Bianca Bar has one of the most gorgeous sunset views in the area, best enjoyed with a sundowner. The bar doubles as a micro-distillery and aroma lab, where herbs and botanicals from the gardens become essential oils, aromatic waters and the base for its revamped classic cocktails. Try the Treville Royal, the Spicy Agave, or one of the tempting non-alcoholic mixes. Set the staff a challenge and they will create something bespoke for any craving.

Bianca’s (c) Dan Kullberg

It’s the same story upstairs at Maestro’s, where the seasonal menu draws on the hotel’s organic gardens and its off-site farm: think stuffed artichoke with mozzarella, anchovy and black truffle, or risotto with yellow tomatoes, burrata, red prawns and lime. Guests can even wander the two hectares of gardens and pick their own herbs, tomatoes, courgettes and lemons. Head chef Vincenzo Castaldo, who hails from Naples, began cooking in 1996 and has worked in fine-dining kitchens in Portugal, the US, Macau and Dubai, as well as at the Michelin-starred Don Alfonso and aboard the yacht Christina O. He and his team are more than happy to cook outside the lines too. The house special is linguine Nerano, with courgettes, organic Parmesan and black pepper, and it’s a must-try, but he’ll do his best to fulfil any request.

On our last night, the team cooked us a series of Neapolitan pizzas that were absolutely outstanding. Just be sure to request them with 24 hours’ notice so the team has time to make the dough. 

Spa: La Traviata

La Traviata is not like other hotel spas. It’s open only to guests of Villa Treville; in fact, it’s exclusive use, so only one guest, couple or small group can visit at a time. The glasshouse it sits in began life as part of Zeffirelli’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata, hence the name. He used it as a winter garden; it later became a guest room before its transformation into a spa, where natural light pours in and inside and outside worlds merge.

Treatments include use of the hammam and cold plunge pool, both absolutely heavenly, and the treatment beds face the sea, so lapping waves are the soundtrack to your treatment. I had the Barbara Sturm facial: an hour of steaming, cleansing, toning and hydrating that left my skin glowing and my mood improved. That was largely down to my therapist, Maimouna, who gave me gentle (generously so) feedback about the state of my pores and sent me away feeling pampered, lighter and brighter.

La Traviata Spa (c) Dan Kullberg

The Sea

Arienzo Beach Club is barely 90 metres away, but On The Rocks, the hotel’s private sun deck, is by far the better choice for sun worshipping. During my visit I picked a bed, lay down, opened a book, promptly closed it, and gazed out at the sun sparkling on the Mediterranean. I watched dozens of yachts and speedboats coming and going from the Positano dock a short hop away.

On the other side of the rocks, a set of steps leads straight down into the sea, where I bobbed around in a rubber ring in complete peace – a stone’s throw from the crowds jostling for the perfect selfie in one of Italy’s most overcrowded tourist towns. Next to the sunbeds are buzzers, so you can order a drink, food, an ice cream (try the hazelnut) or just about anything you can think of. By day two I’m quick to hit the call button for a mid-afternoon limoncello spritz, and the book finally stays open for a few pages before the sea calls me back in. Perhaps relaxation is not so unattainable after all.

Just off the rocks, the hotel’s traditional wooden boat, the San Fernando II, runs complimentary transfers 24 hours a day to Positano’s main dock, the smaller beaches and other hotels with private docks; the hop into town takes under 10 minutes. Yes, it’s fun to venture out for dinner, browse the famous boutiques and visit the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, with its majolica-tiled dome. But a short visit is enough; Positano is best enjoyed from the outside looking in, away from the crowds at Villa Treville. 

The Rocks (c) Dan Kullberg

The Path Of The Gods

One activity worth braving the crowds and leaving the sanctuary of Villa Treville for is the Path of the Gods hike. The Sentiero degli Dei runs about 7.8km along the mountains above Positano, from Bomerano in Agerola to Nocelle. For centuries it was an old mule track linking the hill villages, long before the famous coast road was built. Legend says the gods used it to come down and rescue Ulysses from the sirens, whose islands, Li Galli, you can see offshore. Today it is famous for the coastline views from hundreds of metres above the sea, with Capri on the horizon. 

The hotel can arrange a private guide for the hike. We stopped about halfway at Antonio’s shepherd’s hut – his modest home cooking has become such a draw that he’s had to change his mobile number to keep visitors at bay, but his door is always open to guests of Villa Treville. His hospitality was a highlight of the trip – as was his singing.

(c) Rebecca Cox

C&TH Key Notes

• Drink to order: Treville Royal, at sunset.
• Treatment to book: The transformative Barbara Sturm facial, and allow plenty of time before to enjoy the steam and cold plunge.
• The dish to ask for: Linguine Nerano.
• Room to request: Nijinsky – I saw others and they’re all exquisite, but this view is truly one of a kind.
• Must-do: Breakfast in bed
• When to go: The beginning or end of the season for lower rates and even more peace.

(c) Dan Kullberg

The Key Facts

• Address: Via Arienzo 30, 84017 Positano (SA), Italy
• Rooms: 16 suites across nine categories; five more in Villa Maura from June 2027
• Rates: From €810 per night (Junior Suite, low season) to €27,000 (Zeffirelli Four Bedroom Suite, peak season), including breakfast
• Dinner: Maestro’s Restaurant 
• Spa: La Traviata 
• Getting There: About 75 minutes by car from Naples airport; complimentary 24-hour boat to Positano (under 10 minutes)
• Accessibility: The property contains several lifts but as Treville is built into the cliff face, much of it involves stairs to reach. Zeffirelli Suite and Maestro’s restaurant are accessible by wheelchair. 
• Sustainability: Villa Treville pursues sustainability through solar power, energy-efficient lighting, greywater reuse for irrigation, recycling and composting, organic on-site gardens, local sourcing, and a deliberately small-scale operation that limits resource strain.
• Season: 25 March to 1 November 2027
• Book: villatreville.com 

Taking a dip overlooking Positano

The Last Word

There aren’t enough superlatives to do Treville justice. This is one of Italy’s most exclusive hotels; but it feels like home thanks to the warm and attentive staff and rooms that are so beautiful you won’t want to leave them. The Amalfi Coast might feel almost unvisitable, but here you can swerve the crowds without missing the magic.