Attractions in Villa Hotspot–Sorrento

Sorrento will host its annual ‘Summer of Music’ festival again from this July until the following September. The festival will take place within the venerated halls of the local Monastery of Saint Francis. The festival is led by its honorary President, the famous cellist Uto Ughi. The Summer of Music Festival gives classical music fans a real treat and even plays a part in raising the local real estate value; both rented and fixed. Each year the festival gives emerging musicians the opportunity to play with established and even world-renowned musicians. The effect, for classical music fans, is like a a two month long Woodstock, albeit admittedly much more reserved–and Woodstock didn’t have the backdrop that the Summer of Music does.

Sorrento is well known for its beautiful buildings and picturesque harbor. There are plenty of open-air cafés, local trattorias, nightclubs and concerts held in villa gardens and let’s not forget the Amalfi Coast. Stretching languidly from the peninsula of Sorrent to Salerno, this gold and azure coastline is reputed as retaining more of its natural beauty than any other in area in Campania. The villas and hotels blend seamlessly into the fabric of the seaside towns which perfectly bridge the space between the sea and the Lattari mountains. The entire coast is beautiful and completely navigable by a winding mountainside road that affords a view unlike any other on earth.

The view of Sorrento from the sea might be as impressive as the view of the sea from Sorrento. There are several noteworthy and majestic monuments in the old town. The Basilica De San Antonio was built around the 10th century in honor of Saint Anthony, patron saint of navigators, and in c.1300 it became the home of the “Confraternita dei Battenti”, an heretical confraternity from Naples. It was splendidly restored in the by the Theatine Fathers in the 17th century. The crypt is believed to hold the tomb of Saint Anthony, where thousands of votive offerings have been lit by sailors and fishermen throughout the ages. The Basilica welcomes pilgrims, holds special masses and houses a museum with a limited, but impressive, collection of artifacts.

Another attractive museum is the very well appointed Correale di Terranova. This museum’s 18th century paintings, inlaid furniture, Capodimonte majolica and porcelain ware and lacework are certain to fascinate. It’s almost impossible to find a comparable exhibition outside of a medieval Italian villa. The museum palazzo is a work of art unto itself, its bleached stone and wood structure surrounded by lush wood overlooking the Gulf of Naples.

Undoubtedly there is little I need to inform any travel interested party about the glorious setting of Campania. It is an area seemingly crafted out of romantic possibility, mixed out of sand and emerald on a painter’s palette and brushed onto the nearly tropical south western coast of Italy. Sheltered from fierce weather by Sicily to the south and Corsica and Sardinia to the west, Campania’s rare villas are a vacation renter’s paradise and are snatched up pretty quickly.