A Special Destination Wedding in Positano!
The Amalfi Coast has incredible ingredients for some of the best Italian dishes. In Amalfi, lies the Mediterranean Sea split with steep tortured limestone cliffs with slopes with whitewashed cottages that bask in the sunlight. This area has remained for 500 years making it a fantastic and very peaceful place.
Franco Zeffirelli was born and raised in Florence and discovered this amazing city on a bike tour with his friend in 1941. They were intrigued by this small village that was only accessible by a mule track over the mountains. Zeffirelli returned to this village years later and visited the spectacular establishment that would soon be his holiday home. Over the years, he sold his holiday home and it is now a very exclusive hotel. The Duchess of Villarosa bought the three villas on the hillside, this showed early signs of its Roman origin. The Duchess invited Zeffirelli to lunch and to see the villas and all their beauty. There is a lot of foliage with dramatic glimpses of Positano with theatrical mountains behind.
Once Zeffirelli achieved fame and success through being an opera and film director, he bought these properties and began to realize the potential that awaited him. He added terraces and walkways but he wasn’t finished there. He also added vegetable gardens and a grotto. Once Zeffirellu began getting older, the steep stairway became too much. He sold it to Neapolitan hotelier, Giovanni Russo, who realized that he acquired so much more than just and outstanding property. Once the villas started to be converted to a hotel, Russo decided to keep a lot of the original design ideas and incorporate many of Zeffirelli’s ideas.
