Capri Palace Jumeirah

Anacapri sits about 300 metres above the harbour on the western half of Capri, a town of white houses that long kept its distance from the fashionable Piazzetta below. Capri Palace Jumeirah has stood at its edge since 1960, when the Cacace family built a hotel in the shape of a white Capri villa, all arches and vaults, among the lemon groves at the entrance to the town. Jumeirah Group of Dubai has managed it since 2019.

History

The hotel opened in 1960 as the Europa Palace. Tonino Cacace took it over from his father and, over the following decades, turned it into the Capri Palace, filling the corridors with his collection of 20th-century art and adding the Capri Beauty Farm, which gave the house a reputation separate from its rooms. The two Michelin stars of L'Olivo came under the chef Andrea Migliaccio, and in 2010 the family opened Il Riccio, a restaurant and beach club on the rocks beside the Grotta Azzurra. In 2019 the Cacace family handed the management to Jumeirah, and the hotel took its present name.

Architecture and design

The building is white inside and out, with vaulted ceilings, arcades and columns in the manner of an 18th-century villa, set around a garden and a pool. The public rooms double as galleries for the art collection, and several suites have private gardens with pools, named after artists and figures linked to the island. The bedrooms are kept pale, with linen, pale wood and local ceramics.

Rooms and suites

There are 68 rooms and suites. The sea views face the Gulf of Naples towards Ischia and Vesuvius, and the garden rooms open onto lawns and lemon trees. The suites with private pools are the ones that fill first in summer. The hotel closes in winter and opens for the season in April.

Dining

L'Olivo, the main restaurant, holds two Michelin stars and serves dinner under the arches and on the terrace. Il Riccio, at the water's edge by the Grotta Azzurra on the Anacapri shore, holds a star of its own and serves lunch by the sea, with a dessert room that the regulars know as the room of temptations. The bar in the hotel and the beach club keep the day going between the two.

Wellness

The Capri Beauty Farm is a medical spa as much as a hotel spa. Its Leg School, a programme of treatments for circulation and the legs developed by Professor Francesco Canonaco, is the reason many guests come to Anacapri in the first place, and the spa runs programmes for weight, skin and recovery alongside the usual massages. The outdoor pool is set in the garden.

Weddings and events

The garden and the pool terrace take ceremonies and receptions, and L'Olivo has a private room for dinners. Il Riccio can be taken for a lunch or a party by the sea. Meetings are small and use the lounges; the hotel is not a conference venue.

Location

Anacapri is reached from Marina Grande by the island's road, 15 minutes by taxi or the hotel's car, with the chairlift to Monte Solaro and Axel Munthe's Villa San Michele both in the town. Hydrofoils from Naples take about 50 minutes and ferries from Sorrento about 25. Naples airport is the nearest, with a taxi or helicopter to the port or the island. For a luxury hotel in Anacapri the setting is the quiet side of Capri, with the Piazzetta a drive away rather than at the door.