Ravello

To: Dick Campbell

Rome January 12th, 1983

From: Candace laws 

Here is article on Ravello. Please alter in any way to make it printable for this Sunday's focus section; will be shortly sending articles on Orvieto Arezzo and Positano.

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A Different Kind of New Year - Rome, January 1983

On New Year’s eve, the year before last, a woman was pulling down the bedcovers when a bullet came through the open window and struck her in the back, and killed her instantly. This was no mafia staged killing. If the deafening sound of firecrackers, cherry bombs, and fireworks that start a few days before new year’s eve and build in intensity as midnight nears is not enough, it is not unheard of to grab your nearest pistol and shoot into the air. You are crazy with the ecstasy of the new year. You do not mean to kill. This unfortunate woman happened to get in the way of a stray bullet so fired. 

However, I, not wishing such an unheralded end, prefer to leave Rome for the New Year and celebrate somewhere quiet in the country. A great favorite of ours for many years has been the hotel Caruso Belvedere in Ravello. Ravello is a beautiful little town perched on the top of a mountainside overlooking the Dragone valley on the one side and the famed Amalfi drive and the Gulf of Salerno on the other.

In the reception hall on the left as you enter hangs a yellowed framed example of victorian poetry written by a Mr. Emmet Walsh in 1907, sent to the Caruso in tribute to the many charming hours spent at Ravello. This gives one an idea of the Victorian background of the Caruso. The rooms are elegant and old-fashioned with grace and charm that is difficult to find anywhere else these days. Most of the bedrooms have sunrooms facing the spectacular view of the Amalfi coast and the towns of Maiori and Minori set at the edge of the bluest sea broken only by the horizon where it meets the bluest sky. 

The dining room shares a splendid view with a large terrace for outside dining inclement weather. I am told that many years ago when the weather in Europe generally was much warmer it was quite common to eat out on New Year's Day. Glass although beautiful and sunny at this time of year there is a nippy breeze and one contents oneself with a window table and the comforts of central heating. The tables enjoy pretty pink napery and each setting has a small arrangement of daily cut flowers. The present manager's great-grandfather was an accomplished oil painter and watercolorist and the walls are adorned with his 19th-century paintings of the area. As important as the decor is the food. The chef has a splendid repertoire - his keynote being a lemon and chocolate souffle that is to die over. The wines are from the Caruso's own vineyard offering a solid dry white a pleasant fruity rosé and a rich red which complement the food perfectly. 

The salon is a favorite gathering place for pre-launch Sherry and the post-prandial coffee and liquor. It has a splendid fireplace and many clusters of conversation areas the most cherished being that in front of the hearth. again charming paintings hang on the walls with a frescoed ceiling echoing the origins of the building when it was a palazzo. The atmosphere is warm and intimate and conducive to an afternoon catnap or an excellent night's sleep. 

The Caruso belvedere is a family-run affair. Señor Caruso whose father and grandfather previously ran the hotel is now slowly transferring the reins of power to his nephew Gino. Chino is young and charming and like his uncle speaks excellent English. Mrs. Caruso is still actively involved in the management of the hotel and she also speaks English. Gino appears to understand the very unique charm of the hotel and we all hope he will carry on in the old tradition. 

We arrived on New Year's Eve. From Rome, it is a 4-hour drive. We prefer to bypass Naples and travel up inland over the mountains affording stunning views of Mount Vesuvius and the planes of Naples far below. However, for travelers unlimited schedules who do not live here an alternative that we have found to be very good is to take the train from Rome to Naples rent a car and visit Herculean and Pompeii before continuing down the Amalfi Coast stopping if you still have time in Positano and Amalfi. Only one word of caution such a journey should never be attempted in peak season the traffic is horrendous the hotels are jammed full and it is usually very hot.

Back to New Year's Eve. One assembles in the dining room at 9:00 p.m. for New Year's dinner. Our menu card is our first indication that we will be eating a 7-course beautifully prepared and served dinner that will end at 11:45 pleasantly interrupted for a few minutes by a local band. The village group of 10 or so young boys play traditional jolly music without traditional instruments. Call me instruments are hand-fashioned by themselves out of anything it would seem their mothers had discarded from the family kitchen. 

At 11:45 we retired with fellow guests to the salon plunking ourselves on our chairs which by now like onboard ships we regard as our personal property. We order a bottle of Moet and Chandon to be brought to us on ice a few minutes before midnight. the management of the hotel wheel in a trolley of martini hasty and if you are sensible unlike us you can have a few glasses of bubbly on the house. At midnight all the corks are released together and the usual New Year greeting takes place. We then stand by the window and admire the spectacular fireworks display some distance away in the Piazza. Our little son slept through it all.

Naturally to blow the cobwebs away a bracing walk is the order of New Year's Day. We investigate the progress of the restoration works begun many years ago in the cathedral San Pantalone in the main Piazza. This church has a beautiful pulpit supported by six spiral lion-based columns with intricate mosaics covering the whole. The church was built in 1086 and remodeled in 1786. The Braun stores are magnificent and the sacristan will obligingly show you the doors and the crypt for a small gratuity. 

A light supper and an early night for all. The next day fully recovered from the excesses of New Year is also to be our last. We eat a light breakfast and take a last stroll to the villa Cimbrone. The Villa Cimbrone is a beautiful old Palazzo still privately lived in and therefore closed to the public. The gardens are supposedly imitating a formal English garden but with very much their own character affords one of the most breathtaking views to be found anywhere of the coast from its terrace. 

It was a lovely gracious and memorable new year one that we have no hesitation repeating next year for the year after or as long as it is possible to enjoy the 1900s in the 1980s. 

Happy New Year.

If this gets in please let me know.

All love to you and Marcia for 1983.

Candace