La Palma

La Palma

La Palma is the oldest hotel on Capri, opened in 1822 as a guesthouse by a local notary named Giuseppe Pagano, who had the good instinct to attract artists, poets, and musicians and let them pay in paintings and poems. Two centuries later, Oetker Collection and the Reuben Brothers acquired it, reduced the room count from 80 to 50, and handed the entire redesign to Francis Sultana, a London-based designer working on his first hotel. The result is one of the better-executed renovations in recent years: Mediterranean blues, greens, and turquoises, bespoke furniture made with Italian craftsmen, and a sensibility that references Capri's 1950s jet-set era without becoming a costume. Every room has a private balcony or terrace. For direct pool access, ask specifically for rooms 110, 111, 112, 114, or 115 when you book. The hotel is two minutes' walk from the Piazzetta, which is either a reason to stay here or a reason to think carefully, depending on what kind of Capri trip you want. This is not a quiet retreat from the island's social scene; it is the centre of it. Gennaro Esposito, who has run his own two-Michelin-star restaurant Torre del Saracino for over two decades, oversees the food across the hotel. Gennaro's restaurant handles the main dining with unpretentious Italian cooking, and Bianca on the rooftop is the place to be for drinks and views over the town and sea, particularly in the evenings when the crowds thin out below. The hotel also has a beach club at Marina Piccola on the southern coast, open to non-guests as well, which becomes its own scene through the summer. The basement supper club Anema e Core, which translates as spirit and heart in Caprese dialect, is attached to the hotel and worth knowing about. It is loud, unselfconscious, and has had Beyoncé and DiCaprio in the audience. When they hand you a branded tambourine to tap along with the band, keep it. It's the best souvenir on the island! The short version: The right hotel if you came to Capri to be in the middle of it all. Come in June or September rather than August if you want the island at its best rather than its busiest.