Splendido Mare, A Belmond Hotel, Portofino

The Gold List 2022

@cntraveller

"I’ve been traveling to the Gulf of Tigullio since I was a child—so when I learned that the Splendido Mare in Portofino was reopening after a renovation in 2021, I booked a room immediately. This is the more intimate offshoot of Belmond’s Splendido, a hillside hideout that started life as a Benedictine monastery before becoming a hotel in 1901, then a magnet for movie stars (Elizabeth Taylor had four honeymoons there). The Splendido Mare, once a fishermen’s guesthouse, is its 14-room harborside sister, which first opened in 1998. Its makeover, by in-demand Parisians Charlotte de Tonnac and Hugo Sauzay, is exquisite—local terra-cotta tiles and nautical nods, such as the knots woven into headboards in quietly lavish rooms, with Gio Ponti armchairs and rich Loro Piana fabrics. Everything is done subtly, almost unnoticeably, and there’s a deceptive simplicity to the cooking of brothers Enrico and Roberto Cerea. Their restaurant in Bergamo has three Michelin stars, but here they stick mostly to seafood and Ligurian classics, including a sublime pesto trofie. This is Portofino, after all, which is above all discreet—a place where the actors and the aperitivo-sipping locals don’t much bother one another. I was happiest at the Cereas’ breakfast banquet on the terrace, overlooking the emerald bay, watching Italy’s most civilized corner come languidly to life. Doubles from $650. —Sara Magro."

MICHELIN Hotels & Keys

@michelin_hotels_keys

"Hôtel distingué d’une Clef MICHELIN."

50 Best Discovery Hotels

@fiftybestdiscoveryhotels

"70 chambres. Haute saison : May-September. Restaurant : La Terrazza, Splendido Grill, Dav Mare. Bar : Baratta Sedici."

La Chocologue

@lachocologue

Elisabeth Inthavong

@twinkylizzy

SARAH KASMI

@sarah.kasmi.44

* Ornella *

@justalittledream