Incentive - August 2008 - (Page 51) TRAVEL Sorrento, and Henrik Ibsen wrote the play Ghosts during a six-month stay. The hotel’s conference/meetings facilities accommodate up to 200 people. But beware—as is often the case in old European hotels, some guestrooms are much nicer and larger than others. So some attendees may get stuck with a closet-sized accommodation and tiny window, while others luxuriate in palatial bay-view balcony suites. Planner Resources Imperial Hotel Tramontano www.hoteltramontano.it Il Ristorante L’Incanto www.lincanto.com Positano With its oft-photographed majolica-tiled cathedral dome and homes and gardens carved into tiered cliffs, Positano is a tiny, delightful resort town. A steep pedestrian road winds down to the sea, with ceramic shops; pastry shops; boutiques selling gauzy floral moda Positano fashions; and shops with shelves full of lemon soap, lemon-scented candles and, of course, limoncello. Once you reach the beach, you are rewarded with umbrellas, boats, kayaks and bars. “Even though many people have been to Italy, I’m always surprised how few have been to Positano, possibly because of its rarified reputation. But those who come are seduced,” says Laurie Howell, co-owner of Amalfi Life, a New York City–based company that coordinated an incentive trip for a major pharmaceutical company. “A trip here can cater to nearly every interest—boating, cooking classes, winery visits, chamber music—or sitting on the romantic beaches and letting one’s eyes feast on beauty.” Il Ristorante L’Incanto, which sits on the sand, with sea and cliff views, effortlessly serves groups and is a great lunch stop. And the 62-room, five-star hotel Le Sirenuse in an 18th-century palazzo overlooking the Bay of Positano, offers “unsurpassed hospitality,” Howell says. A piazza in Sorrento lures visitors to explore Ravello Chamber Music Festival www.ravelloarts.org Ravello Festival www.ravellofestival.com Hotel Caruso www.hotelcaruso.com Hotel Le Sirenuse www.sirenuse.it The hilltop village of Ravello offers jagged coastline vistas Ravello The picturesque hilltop village of Ravello is known for dramatic sea views and jagged coastline vistas, as well as an outdoor music festival that runs from late June through October (a Chamber Music Festival extends the season for music lovers from the first week of March to the first week of November). A walk through town will take you by a castle, cathedrals and 13th-century buildings. For smaller incentive groups, Frick is partial to the 48-room Hotel Caruso. Most of the rooms and suites have sea views and a terrace, and function rooms, open-air gardens and theater-style meeting rooms are available for groups. “I am particular about hotels, but Hotel Caruso is just off the charts,” Frick says. “We buy out the entire place. One of the biggest challenges in Italy is that many hotels have rooms of wildly different sizes and quality. But at Hotel Caruso, every person in our group thought they had the best room. The place truly defines a fivestar hotel—quality of accommodations, quality of food and most importantly, personalized service.” Michael Putman Estwanik, whose New York City firm, Searchlights, plans incentive travel and conferences, included Hotel Caruso as part of a recent incentive trip through Italy for UniPro Foodservice Inc. “It’s just as glamorous and sophisticated as it was when celebrities such as Greta Garbo, Tennessee Williams, Virginia Woolf, Humphrey Bogart and Jacqueline Kennedy stayed here,” Estwanik says. “Novelty-seekers may move on to modern places like Dubai, but Hotel Caruso and the Amalfi Coast are classics that never go out of style.” Send comments to feedback@incentivemag.com incentivemag.com | August 2008 | Incentive | 51 http://www.hoteltramontano.it http://www.lincanto.com http://www.ravelloarts.org http://www.ravellofestival.com http://www.hotelcaruso.com http://www.sirenuse.it http://incentivemag.com
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