Borgo Santandrea Is the Amalfi Coast’s Newest Destination
The Amalfi Coast has no shortage of luxury places to stay, but newcomer Borgo Santandrea is offering something no one else is. The resort, the first new hotel to open on the Amalfi Coast in 15 years when it started taking guests last summer, is the only five-star hotel on the coast with its own private beach — bringing a whole new meaning to a luxurious Italian coast getaway.
Owned and operated by Maurizio Orlacchio, who comes from a family of hoteliers in Ischia, Borgo Santandrea is billed not as a classic hotel but rather a collection of luxury villas.
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The property hangs 300 feet above sea level and boasts 29 rooms and 16 suites, all of which have sea views (four of the rooms are brand new for this season, and two of the suites have private infinity pools).
Orlacchio says he jumped at the chance to have a property on what he calls “the golden belt” of hospitality along Italy’s coastline.
“Starting from Ravello down to Positano, you have some of the best hotels in the world,” he says. “Every year they are named the best hotels in the world. And our excitement was when we had to decide what to do, because we had the opportunity to have an easy way: you have 70 rooms on your Amalfi Coast with a very small refurbishment. You have 70 rooms on the Amalfi Coast, and according to the demand of such a destination, you can make a margin right after the first year. But we decided to go for the most difficult one. We asked ourselves, ‘When is there going to be a new opening on the Amalfi Coast? Let’s make it special.’”
The beach is one of Borgo Santandrea’s best features, with a private beach club that, new for summer 2023, will be open in the evenings, with food and beverage and live music under the stars. Summer 2023 also sees new programing at the hotel, including wine tasting and culinary classes (although the restaurant is run by a Michelin-starred chef, so you may as well just leave the cooking to the pros).
Much of the inspiration for the newly designed rooms came from assessing what the other older, classic hotels were missing, according to tourists who frequented them.
“Differently from all our competitors and neighbors, Borgo Santandrea is a project that was developed and studied carefully according to the current hospitality standards. We were able to work on a brand new project,” Orlacchio says, noting that they sourced a questionnaire from 300 top travel advisers to get a sense of what their clients were lacking during their Amalfi trips.
“Once we received all this feedback we changed those parts of the project; the importance of the bathroom was not the same in the ‘70s when all the hotels on the Amalfi Coast were being built as it is now. The importance of having connecting rooms that are not only suites but also entry-level rooms: the walk-in closet,” he explains.
They also position themselves as a modern villa-style of stay rather than a large hotel, never mentioning time restraints for meals or programming so guests can vacation on their own schedules.
“We try not to be worried by the time. I think that a real vacation, it’s not only the service, but it’s also your time,” Orlacchio says.
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