JOURNEYS

Hotels

hotel caruso ravello

Unearthing an Italian gem on the Amalfi Coast.

idway through its renovation of the palazzo Caruso Belvedere, Orient-Express Hotels hit a walla medieval edifice, to be precise. The discovery occurred on the cliff-top grounds of the Amalfi Coast pensine, which the Caruso family sold to Orient-Express in 1999. The company already was taking a meticulous approach to the hotels refurbishment: Workers were lifting terra-cotta tiles from the floors, numbering them, and sending them to Rome for mending, and Renaissance art scholar Antonio Forcellino was restoring 18th-century frescoesfound

beneath whitewash in the hotels laundry roomthat depicted life in Pompeii. But after encountering the 11th-century structure and, eventually, artifacts while digging on the hillside to build a swimming pool, Orient-Express had to become downright obsessive in its efforts. Progress slowed as the Soprintendenza Archeologica per le Province di Salerno (Archaeological Department of Salerno) supervised minute details of the Carusos restoration. Ultimately, the oversight committee allowed the historic structures and artifacts to become part of the

Orient-Express property, which finally opened in June 2005six years after the $30 million project beganas the Caruso Ravello. The hotel, OrientExpress fourth in Italy, incorporates remains of the 11th-century palace (built by a Roman patrician family), a colonnade that dates to the 17th century, and buildings and artworks from the 1700s. The Caruso Ravellos 50 guest rooms and suites, most of which have terraces with stunning views of the Gulf of Salerno, cling to a hillside nearly 1,000 feet above the Mediterranean Sea. (Seven suites built within the propertys medieval walls are

opening this year.) The accommodations vaulted ceilings, Gothic windows, and majolica floors mimic the style of the Caruso Belvedere, whose guests included royals and Nobel Prize winners during its century of operation as a hotel. This sense of refinement pervades the Caruso Ravello, from the terraced lawns to the cliff-side infinity pool to the ocean-view Belvedere Restaurant. Beyond the boundaries of the hotel, cobblestoned streets twist alongside ancient churches in the town of Ravello, and, less than 20 miles away, the Caruso Ravellos artwork comes to life in the excavated city of Pompeii. scott goetz
Hotel Caruso Ravello, +39.089.858.801, www.hotelcaruso.com ($640$2,880)

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HOTELS

JOURNEYS

HOTELS

its available rooms for a minimum of $1,200 per night. Club amenities available to hotel guests include services at Casa Casuarinas Spa Eleven, which champions decadence over health. Spa patrons, who are greeted with a glass of Champagne, can take treatments in a room decorated with antique opium beds and hookahs, and they can request a massage trois performed by three masseuses. sheila gibson stoodley
Casa Casuarina, 305.672.6604, www.casacasuarina.com (from $1,200)

san francisco treat

Every city has, in its history, certain defining moments that are destined to reshape its future. That moment came for San Francisco at 5:12 on the morning of April 18, 1906, when a

magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck the booming port city. For three days afterward, those buildings that did not topple were burned in an inferno that is now estimated to have been more destructive than either the Chicago fire of 1871 or the London fire of 1666. But this prosperous (and, some would say, profligate) city would rebuild and reinvent itself, as it has done many times over in the century since. It is fitting, then, that the new St. Regis San Francisco , located on Mission Street near the Museum of Moder n Art, should represent a departure from its more classically styled sisters in New York, Houston, and Washington, D.C. Sleek, contemporary, a composition of clean lines and elemental materials, with a subtle Asian flair, this newest addition to the St. Regis portfolio is everything one thinks of when one thinks of the

City by the Bay: cutting-edge, international, and full of surprises. One such surprise is that this seemingly modern structure actually comprises two buildings, one of which was the first major edifice to be built after the Great Quake. Modern amenities abound, however, including high-speed wireless Internet access and digital assistants in each room that control lights, blinds, and audio/video systems. Remde Spa awaits those who wish to be pampered in a tranquil, Zen-like environment. Appetites of a more literal kind can be satisfied at Ame (see page 290), the innovative Americanstyle restaurant with a Japanese twist by Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani, who are best known for Napa Valleys celebrated Terra. brett anderson
St. Regis San Francisco, 415.284.4000, www.starwoodhotels.com/stregis (from $400)

Casa Casuarina

Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues

swiss hit
Geneva has a rich reputation as the home of expensive Swiss watches, decadent chocolates, and untraceable bank accounts. But for a city that caters to the wealthy, it has long lacked suitable lodging. Last fall, after a 12-month renovation, the historic Hotel des Bergues on the banks of Lake Geneva solved this Swiss paradox when it reopened as the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues. French interior architect PierreYves Rochon oversaw the redesign of the neoclassical des Bergues building, which is said to be Genevas oldest hotel, having greeted its first guests in 1834. Rochons decor borrows its watery palette from the lake: Shades of Wedgwood blue and light greens color the hotels 83 rooms and 13 suites, where toile de Jouy wall coverings complement whitewashed, Louis Philippestyle furnishings. The

restoration also revived the buildings Salle des Nations, an opulent ballroom created for the first League of Nations meeting in 1920. Today, the Hotel des Bergues bar serves as an ideal gathering place, where you can sip a cocktail while viewing the lake and the Quai des Bergues before dining at Il Lago, the Four Seasons exceptional northern Italian restaurant. laurie kahle
Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, 800.819.5053, +41.22.908.70.00, www.fourseasons.com ($579$6,650)

fashionable address
Certain details remind you that Casa Casuarina, an exclusive club and hotel on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, previously was a private home: The keys to the 10 guest rooms are proper metal

instruments, not plastic cards, and the doors can be problematic at times.The most conspicuous evidence, however, is the steady procession of tourists who congregate on the sidewalk outside Casa Casuarina, pointing at the steps where the mansions most famous owner, fashion designer Gianni Versace, fell after serial killer Andrew Cunanan shot him in 1997. Standard Oil millionaire Alden Freeman built Casa Casuarina in 1930, and Versace expanded the Mediterranean Revivalstyle estate during the 1990s. After Versaces death, telecommunications businessman Peter Loftin purchased the home, making it the base for an invitation-only club. Opened officially in October 2005, Loftins club has approximately 200 members, who have access to the property weekly from Wednesday through Sunday. In addition, Casa Casuarina operates as a hotel, renting

TOP LEFT: JERRY WYSZATYCKI & TRICIA KREFETZ/AVATAR PRODUCTIONS

St. Regis San Francisco

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HOTELS

fort nights
Amangalla had been open only nine

days when the tsunami struck Sri Lanka in December 2004. Positioned behind the stone walls of Galle Fort, a former Dutch military stronghold in the coastal city of Galle, the hotel survived unscathed. But the damage to the surrounding city prompted management to close the property and operate it as a shelter for local victims for nearly two months. Reopened in Februar y 2005, Amangalla occupies a collection of structures built in the late 1600s to house military officers within Galle Fort (now a 232-acre fortified community that became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988). The buildings also served as a billet for British soldiers and, for the past 140 years, as the New Oriental Hotel. Several of Amangallas 21 guest rooms and suites feature original furnishings from the fortress and views of its ramparts, the adjacent harbor, or the Groote Kerk (Great Church). Activities at and around Amangalla include ayurvedic treatments in the spa, lounging in poolside cabanas, and exploring the fort, nearby beaches, and Buddhist temples. Two hours away by car is Amanwella, Amanresorts Sri Lankan beach resort that debuted just one month after Amangallas reopening. s.g.
Amangalla, +94.91.223.3388, www.amanresorts.com ($450$1,300)

The Landmarks 21,000square-foot spa, which occupies two floors and includes Pilates and yoga studios, relies on less contemporary concepts. Based on the Roman baths of antiquity, the spa abounds with H 2 0a bubbling vitality pool, scented hot and cold rain showers, amethyst crystal steam rooms, crushed ice scrubs, and Turkish Hamam baths.The spa also offers a 700-square-foot VIP suite with a plasma TV and private sauna. In the Landmarks restaurant, designer Tihany suspended 4,200 golden tubes in a wave formation from the ceiling and Amangalla constructed a lotus pond and glass drawbridge in the adjabutton. At a touch, you can call for cent bar. The guest rooms, however, service, dim the lights, raise the offer the ultimate in modernity at the shades, or turn on any one of the LCD hotel. And should all of that technoltelevisions (a minimum of three per ogy prove daunting, the staff network accommodation). Also included in specialist is only a push button away. each room are an iPod-compatible jessica taylor hi-fi surround-sound system and a Landmark Mandarin Oriental, technology kit that features adapters 866.526.6567, +852.2132.0188, for your computer and other elecwww.mandarinoriental.com ($515$5,400) tronic gadgets.

smart choice
Just as Mandarin Oriental closed its 43-year-old flagship hotel in Hong Kong for a yearlong overhaul in December 2005, the company opened a sleeker, smaller, and decidedly more high-tech property only a block away. Nearly everything at the 113-room Landmark Mandarin Oriental designed by Adam Tihany and located in the heart of the citys financial districtoperates via the push of a

Landmark Mandarin Oriental

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