Santavenere

The location is amazing, the hotel and its grounds are beautiful, and the staff are very nice and helpful. The hotel aims to provide a luxury experience for its guests (part of the leading hotels of the world) - and it is priced accordingly! - but it falls short of expectations. Service is slow and erratic, particularly at the pool restaurant. Food is not so good: our meals were very very average, the menu of the Carrubo restaurant is limited and does not change from lunch to dinner. Furthermore, our dinner was ruined by non-stop intrusive live accordion playing. The pool is lovely but there aren't nearly enough sunbeds and loungers, and there isn't a separate pool for children. The beach area is lovely, and would be very calm and relaxing if they didn't play very loud (and awful) music all day- even after lunch and when there is no one at the bar. The hotel management talks about re-creating the feeling of La Dolce Vita, which is an interesting concept given the backdrop of the hotel and its beautiful grounds. However, someone needs to tell the marketing team that simply playing 1950s Italian songs and having an accordion player accompany dinner does not really transport guests back to a golden age... Last but not least the hotel smells like a French boudoir! Maybe it would be better to use some more discreet scent instead of the far too strong perfume that suffocates the guests. So overall a lovely hotel in a lovely location but definitely not one pf the leading hotels of the world. Very far from it.

I cannot begin to compose a note about this hotel. It is beautiful. The staff are beautiful and the location was fantastic. Just a perfect getaway for 2 nights. Very sad to leave. We also had dinner one night while staying and the food was exceptional

This hotel was on the water and the views were absolutely lovely from both our room and the breakfast terrace. The breakfasts were absolutely amazing. The pool was beautiful and it had a small private beach. They really wanted to take you around on the golf carts. We walked sometimes but they wanted to provide awesome service. This was a great 2 day stay. They even booked our tour at the local gratto

I’ll start this by summarizing, then provide more detail why this is one of the nicest places to stay in the Basilicata/Amalfi Coast region. This is a magnificent and breathtaking 34-room hotel overlooking the ocean, but perched elegantly above the sand. You can see the ‘Christ the Redeemer’ 75-foot statue on the upper mountaintop from just about anywhere on the Santavenere grounds. Beautiful rooms. Amazingly sweet and caretaking staff. Incredible food and wine. The front desk staff seemed to be able to do anything & went way out of their way to ensure that we (and others) had the nicest stay possible. I have to say I have never been treated so warmly. Some detail: We came to Maratea to stay at a timeshare exchange property up near the statue. We knew it would not be as nice as the hotel in Naples we had stayed at, but we didn’t expect the property to be nearly vacant and looking like it was closing any minute. With the internet to the rescue, we found Hotel Santavenere and got a driver to take us there from the dumpy timeshare. Oh my goodness: What an improvement. The staff welcomed us genuinely and warmly and got us settled. We had taken the Italo train from Naples to Maratea (the train trip was beautiful and superb), and all of a sudden we realized we were going to need a car. It was late PM Saturday. All cad rental places were not going to open until Monday. “Not to worry - let me see what I can do”, said Alessandra at the front desk. (She was AMAZINGLY helpful and sweet!!) Lo and behold, on Sunday of all things, she called and told us she had arranged for the Avis car rental folks to come bring us a car at the hotel on SUNDAY NIGHT!!! Nobody does that! Her friend at Avis drove ＞ 40 miles to bring us the car & drop off. They even let us leave it at the hotel when we left and they came to retrieve it. THAT, ladies and gents, is just one of the reasons why they are a 5-star hotel. They go so far above and beyond. We will absolutely stay here again. Breakfast was gorgeous and tasty out on the patio deck overlooking the ocean. Lunch/dinner also impressive. The grounds are awe inspiring and beautifully maintained. While the hotel is elevated above the shoreline, they gladly will shuttle anyone down to the black sand beach, and they have towels, etc all ready for you. The pool is also beautiful. We sat under the poolside pergola cover during an afternoon rainstorm and had sandwiches and wine, offered to us by the crew. Ahhhhh! We also later went to Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast. While it was a memorable experience, we would rather come back to Hotel Santavenere than go back to Amalfi - what Santavenere has is better. Quieter, more secluded, and yet still the views, ocean and all were so warm & inviting. Alessandra: You and the whole staff there made our Italy trip this summer the highlight of the year. This was the BEST vacation we have had in many, many years, and Hotel Santavenere is our forever favorite.

When you arrive in the hotel your welcomed with open arms and during your entire stay the super attentive stay will make sure you feel the endearing hospitality. It was our second stay and service, restaurant and facilities even improved more. The most perfect stay in this charming place.

The location - perfection, the staff - amazing, the grounds - gorgeous, the hotel - beautiful. I have never stayed at a hotel that was fully booked and I felt like we were the only people there, in a good way. Everyone always had time for us, the staff was so helpful and lovely. It was so comfortable everything, the golf car taking you back and forth to the beach, the car, the port, you name it. The views of the coastline is breathtaking and the grounds are well kept with flowers, trees and beautiful furniture. The beach was my favorite area with the crystal clear water and the comfortable lounge beds where you could stay for hours and hours. Me and my family never wanted to leave even though we stayed 7 nights, it was not enough.