As I mentioned the other week, we just had our trip to the Amalfi Coast in Italy.  While we stayed in Positano, we did a couple of side trips and I wanted to share some of our favorite places.

Scott and I hired a car and drove to Ravello, a beautiful town in the hills overlooking the Amalfi coast.  The town is said to be ‘closer to the sky than the seashore’ and the views are amazing.  Lucky for me, Scott is a great photographer and took all these photos:

We toured the Villa Rufolo which had some beautiful gardens.  It felt a lot like California with the lush landscaping and ocean views.

We also managed to get to Pompeii, which I have wanted to go to since I was in college and studied art history.  It is hard to believe how well preserved everything is, even to this day.  Mosaic tile work is still in place, and looks great!  Check out these two mosaics- one in a Greek key pattern and the other at a front door entry.

This mosaic reads “Beware of Dog”- what a fun idea!  I think when we install tile these days, we plan for it to last about 10 years, then be updated.  This tile work is thousands of years old and is still in style.

This is an old fresco, which is actually outside, but look at their use of perspective to make the corridors look deeper.  Really impressive considering the time when it was created.

The attention to detail was great.  This was an old bath and every inch of the building is covered with art and sculpture.  Look at the row of sculpted men holding up the supportive brace all around the edges of the building.

Going from ‘Old World’ to modern living, we left the Amalfi Coast and went to Naples for our last night.  We stayed at the coolest hotel, the Hotel Romeo.  It was right on the water and was fantastic.  We ventured outside for a few of the sites and Naple’s famous pizza, but were all too happy to head back to the hotel for a relaxing evening by their pool top deck and bar.

The lobby area has several sections, including a lounge area, a game area and a library.

Here is the pool table and fuse ball game in the background.

This technically savvy water feature in the lobby changed it’s graphics all day.

The hotel had the feel of a more Zen ‘W’.  We were very excited when we headed down the dark hallway corridor, found our hotel room by locating the number in the gray circle on the floor and opened the door to see…

A really cool room:

The bed pillows were enormous.  I think the back pillows were at least 36” square.

The nightstands were made of some kind of cracked glass which was backlit.  The glass wall hides the shower.

Here is the nightstand up close:

The sink was very cool with no visible drain.Naples itself left a bit to be desired, so after some basic exploring, we decided to head up to the bar and watch the moon rise over Vesuvius.

It was a great way to cap off the trip to Italy.  Scott and I had the best time on our trip and can’t wait to plan the next adventure.  The hotel was so cool, it really inspired me to take a second look at the elements that make up a more modern design, but keep it from feeling cold or unwelcoming.  I am looking forward to incorporating all these different influences in our purchases for the store and for interior design!