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 · Conca dei Marini, Amalfi Coast
Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa
A 17th-century monastery on the cliff at Conca dei Marini, its gardens stepping down four levels to a heated infinity pool above the sea.
Monastero Santa Rosa at a glance
- Where
- On the cliff at Conca dei Marini, between Amalfi and Positano
- The building
- A 17th-century monastery of Dominican nuns, its vaults kept
- Category
- 5 Stelle lusso on Regione Campania's register
- Rooms
- 20 rooms and suites, on Regione Campania's register
- Eating and drinking
- Il Refettorio, Bar La Brocca and the Mezzogiorno Pool Café
- Address
- Via Roma 2, 84010 Conca dei Marini
Facts checked
01Is it for you?
Is Monastero Santa Rosa right for your stay?
- Why choose it
- Twenty rooms on a cliff of their own. The monastery of Conca dei Marini, built for Dominican nuns and restored by its owner, stands alone on its promontory between Amalfi and Positano; four levels of gardens step down from it to a heated infinity pool cut into the rock at the cliff's edge, and the spa is set in the old vaulted walls.
- Who it suits
- Couples, honeymoons and anniversaries who want the quiet of a house of twenty rooms, and the gardens, the pool and the spa more than a town at the door. Caruso, up the hill in Ravello, is the larger garden house; Il San Pietro, at Positano, puts the sea at the foot of a lift.
- What to consider
- Conca dei Marini is a village, not a town: Amalfi is about ten minutes' drive away, by the hotel's reckoning, and its shuttle runs there and back on request. The house is built down a cliff, so the gardens' levels are joined by stairways, and the sea is below it rather than at the door.
02The hotel
The hotel and its rooms
Monastero Santa Rosa was built in the 17th century as a convent for Dominican nuns, the work of Sister Rosa Pandolfi, of a noble family of Pontone di Scala, beside the old church of Santa Maria di Grado, and it was dedicated to St Rose of Lima. The nuns kept an apothecary of remedies made from the herbs and flowers of their gardens, and paid for an aqueduct that brought water to the village. After the religious community was removed in the 19th century a Roman hotelier made the building a hotel; it later stood empty on its cliff, until Bianca Sharma, its owner today, saw it from the sea, bought it and spent some ten years restoring it with local architects and the historical authorities.
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.
Rooms and suites
The 20 rooms and suites are the nuns’ cells and communal rooms joined together over two levels, their vaults kept, each named for a herb or plant the nuns grew for their remedies; the hotel gives every one a sea view, and the bathrooms are in Jerusalem stone with heated floors. The practical choice is first between a room and one of the eight suites. Of the rooms, the Superior Rooms have king beds under the vaults, the Deluxe Rooms a bathtub at a window over the sea, and the Queen Terrace Rooms, on the top floor, a private terrace for two over the pool and the gardens. No two suites are alike: the Deluxe Open Space Suite was the nuns’ refectory, the Deluxe Terrace Suite has a terrace the length of the suite, the Premium Terrace Suite a terrace over the middle of the property with a table for dinner, loungers and lemon trees, and the Rosa Suite, 130 m², is a two-level loft, its bedroom on a gallery above the living room.
If a terrace, a bathtub or the view towards Amalfi 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 an hour and twenty minutes by car, by the hotel’s reckoning. The hotel includes breakfast, the thermal suite and its shuttle to Amalfi in every stay; the shuttle runs on request, subject to availability. Regione Campania’s register records no rooms adapted for guests with reduced mobility, so tell us if step-free access matters. The restaurant asks gentlemen to wear long trousers at dinner. We confirm the hotel’s opening dates for your year.
At the hotel
Facilities
- The heated fresh-water infinity pool, cut into the rock at the lowest level of the gardens, for the hotel's guests only
- Four levels of terraced gardens of rose, jasmine and citrus, walled in local stone, with loungers and canopied day beds
- The spa in the monastery's old vaults, with Santa Maria Novella's products: a thermal suite of rock sauna, domed herbal steam room, tepidarium, ice fountain and hydro pool, a Spa Suite for two and treatments in the garden
- An open-air gym with Technogym equipment facing the sea, and a bocce court on the terrace above it
- The Sunset Terrace, for a drink under the stars looking across to Amalfi and the Gulf of Salerno
Eating and drinking
Il Refettorio is the restaurant: Alfonso Crescenzo’s cooking of Campania, tradition and technique, from the seafood, meats and produce of the coast and the hotel’s own terraced kitchen garden above the house, served on the terrace over the Gulf of Salerno or under the stone vault of the dining room. Lunch is at the Mezzogiorno Pool Café, beside the water. Bar La Brocca, on the terrace below the restaurant, has a library corner and the wine cellar, La Cantina, on show. The nuns created the sfogliatella Santa Rosa in this kitchen, and it is served at breakfast. We reserve the tables.
03Location
Where Monastero Santa Rosa is
Monastero Santa Rosa stands at Via Roma 2, on the cliff edge of Conca dei Marini, the fishing village between Amalfi and Positano, with the village’s harbour below it. The map shows it with what is around it: Capo di Conca, on the headland across the bay below; the Grotta dello Smeraldo on the coast road to the west, and the Fiordo di Furore beyond it; and Amalfi to the east, about ten minutes’ drive away by the hotel’s reckoning, where its shuttle runs. For the coast itself, see our Amalfi Coast page.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa
Capo di Conca
Grotta dello Smeraldo
Fiordo di Furore
Amalfi
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
Amalfi
Santa Caterina
A family-run hotel on the cliff at the edge of Amalfi, its gardens on terraces down to a beach club, a salt-water pool and the sea.
- At the edge of Amalfi
- Beach club and salt-water pool
- Connecting rooms for families
05Planning
Planning a stay with Avelia
Monastero Santa Rosa 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 station, Capri and the coast by private boat, 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 station to Conca dei Marini — about an hour and twenty minutes by the hotel’s reckoning — and onward through Italy
- Capri and the coast by private boat from Amalfi, subject to sea conditions
- Pompeii, Herculaneum or Paestum with a private guide, on request
- The Path of the Gods on foot with a local guide, or the Valle delle Ferriere above Amalfi
- Table reservations in Amalfi, Ravello and along the coast
Start planning your stay
A Queen Terrace Room over the gardens, or a suite with a terrace of its own: tell us your dates and who is travelling.
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