Ravello
Caruso
An 11th-century palace at the top of Ravello, 350 metres above the sea, with a heated infinity pool, frescoed salons and gardens on terraces.
- 350 m above the sea
- Gardens and heated pool
- Children of any age
Hotel guide · Amalfi, Amalfi Coast
Hotel Santa Caterina
A family-run hotel on the cliff at the edge of Amalfi, its gardens stepping down to a beach club with a salt-water pool by the sea.
Santa Caterina at a glance
- Where
- On the cliff at the western edge of Amalfi, above its own beach club
- The building
- A white villa, run day to day by the Gambardella family
- Category
- 5 Stelle lusso on Regione Campania's register
- Rooms
- 65 rooms and suites, on Regione Campania's register
- Eating and drinking
- Glicine, Al Mare, Senzafine, Bar La Terrazza and Il Grottino
- Address
- S.S. Amalfitana 9, 84011 Amalfi
Facts checked
01Is it for you?
Is Santa Caterina right for your stay?
- Why choose it
- The sea and the town together. Two lifts take you down from the hotel to its beach club at the foot of the cliff, with a salt-water pool beside the sea, and Amalfi's cathedral and harbour are five minutes away by the hotel's free shuttle.
- Who it suits
- Families who want connecting rooms, the sea and a town within reach, and couples on a honeymoon, for whom the hotel keeps two special suites. Caruso, in Ravello, is higher and quieter, the sea a drive away; Il San Pietro, outside Positano, has a beach of its own and no town at the door.
- What to consider
- The beach club keeps a season — mid-April to October, by the hotel's account, which we confirm for your year. In the hotel's own words "the deck is not fully accessible (including the pool)", though its staff help with access, and its accessible rooms are not yet fully compliant, with a renovation planned for some.
02The hotel
The hotel and its rooms
Hotel Santa Caterina is the Gambardella family’s hotel, on the cliff at the western edge of Amalfi. Giuseppe Gambardella first turned his family’s home, a little way along the coast, into a small hotel, then opened Santa Caterina with six rooms; his family has extended and refurbished it ever since, and still runs it day to day.
Below the white villa, the gardens and terraces step down the cliff to the beach club at the water, with Al Mare’s terrace on the way down. For the coast around it, our Amalfi Coast page covers the towns, when to go and the routes. The other Amalfi Coast hotels we feature are Caruso, at the top of Ravello, and Il San Pietro di Positano, cut into the cliff above its own beach east of Positano.
Rooms and suites
The register counts 65 rooms; the hotel itself gives 66 rooms and suites, plus 12 more in Casa Marchesa, its new building a short walk along the coast road — whether the register’s row includes Casa Marchesa, it does not say. All the rooms have hand-painted majolica floors and marble bathrooms, and open onto balconies over the sea or the garden. The choice is the view: the rooms run from Partial Sea View and Executive Partial Sea View to Front Sea View and Front Upper Floor Sea View, then Deluxe; the suites — Junior Suite, Executive Junior Suite and Suite — add a sitting area and a large bathtub, some a terrace or a private garden. For a honeymoon there are the two special suites: Follia Amalfitana, in a grove of oranges and lemons with its own solarium, pool and round hydro pool, and the Chalet Giulietta e Romeo, set into the cliff on two levels, a jacuzzi bath upstairs and a private infinity pool on the patio below. Casa Marchesa’s 12 include a three-bedroom residence with its own kitchen and wine cellar; it has a lap pool kept for its guests, and the hotel’s services are open to them.
If a front sea view, connecting rooms or step-free access matters to you, tell us when you enquire and we will confirm it with the hotel for your dates before anything is booked. If children are travelling, we confirm the hotel’s children’s policy for your group at the same time.
On the practical side: Naples airport is about 80 km away, roughly an hour and a half by car by the hotel’s reckoning, and Salerno station 25 km; we arrange the transfer by road, or a private boat straight to the hotel’s own jetty, where boats also leave for the coast.
At the hotel
Facilities
- The beach club at the foot of the cliff, for the hotel's guests: a salt-water pool, sun beds and parasols on decks over the water, and the Beach Bar
- Mediterranean gardens of citrus, flowers, olive and pine trees
- The spa, for face and body treatments and the hotel's lemon massage, Oro di Amalfi
- A gym overlooking the sea
Eating and drinking
Glicine is the restaurant, under chef Giuseppe Stanzione: an à la carte menu that keeps changing, or a tasting menu, on a panoramic veranda over the gardens, with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes too. Al Mare, on a stone terrace on the way down to the beach club, is the informal one — the coast’s traditional cooking, seafood and pizzas from the wood-fired oven. Senzafine, on the roof, is a Mediterranean grill and a sushi bar. Bar La Terrazza has a panoramic terrace and a lounge for an aperitivo, with a bistro of regional dishes; Il Grottino, cut into the rock a few steps from the beach club, opens onto a terrace over the sea. The wine cellar holds more than a thousand labels, with a sommelier to guide the pairing. We reserve the tables.
03Location
Where Santa Caterina is
Hotel Santa Caterina stands on the coast road just west of Amalfi, some 700 metres from the centre in the hotel’s words, built into the cliff above its beach club. The hotel’s free shuttle runs to the centre and the port every day; on foot, a pedestrian route to Piazza Duomo is about 1.4 km and under twenty minutes, climbing steps above the coast road before it comes down into the town — approximate. The map shows it with what is around it: Amalfi’s harbour and the cathedral to the east, the paper museum up the valley behind the town, and Atrani, the next village along the coast. For the coast itself, see our Amalfi Coast page.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Hotel Santa Caterina
Amalfi harbour
Duomo di Amalfi
Museo della Carta
Atrani
04Alternatives
Other featured hotels in Amalfi Coast
More hotels from our Amalfi Coast selection, each with a different character.
Positano
Il San Pietro
A hotel cut into the cliff east of Positano, with its own beach at the foot of the rock, a lift through the rock to reach it, a pool and a tennis court between the rock and the pebbles.
- Private beach by lift
- Positano a shuttle away
- Children from ten
Positano
Le Sirenuse
The family villa in the middle of Positano, above the church of Santa Maria Assunta and the beach, with a terrace pool and La Sponda's candlelit dinners.
- In the middle of Positano
- Terrace pool and La Sponda
- Beach and boats a walk below
Conca dei Marini
Monastero Santa Rosa
A 17th-century monastery on the cliff at Conca dei Marini: 20 rooms and suites, four levels of gardens down to a heated infinity pool, and a spa in the old vaults.
- Twenty rooms
- Gardens and infinity pool
- Spa in the old vaults
05Planning
Planning a stay with Avelia
Hotel Santa Caterina can be the whole of a stay on the Amalfi Coast, or the coast nights of a journey from Rome. Before any payment, we send a written proposal with a quoted trip price and what it includes — such as your room, the transfer from Naples airport or Salerno station, Capri and Positano by private boat from the hotel's jetty, and Pompeii and Herculaneum with a guide — and refine it with you. Once you approve the proposal and complete the agreed booking requirements, we confirm your arrangements. We coordinate the details and support you while you travel.
How we choose hotels. For their size and character before their brand, and for how they suit the way you travel. No hotel is on our list simply because it sits on a preferred-partner programme. More in our story
Peace of mind
Financially protected. When your stay is part of a package trip, your payments are covered against our insolvency by a guarantee with AXA. A hotel booked on its own is not a package. Plan with peace of mind
Experiences we can arrange
- Private transfers from Naples airport or Salerno station to the hotel — about an hour and a half from Naples by the hotel’s reckoning — and onward through Italy
- Capri, Positano and the Li Galli islands by private boat from the hotel’s jetty, subject to sea conditions
- Pompeii and Herculaneum with a private guide, on request
- Amalfi’s cathedral, the Cloister of Paradise and the paper museum with a local guide
- Ravello’s villas and gardens with a guide, a short drive up the hill
- Restaurant reservations in Amalfi and along the coast
Start planning your stay
A front sea-view room, or connecting rooms for a family: tell us your dates and who is travelling.
Usually answered within one business day.