In Hollywood, they say you should never play opposite a dog or a kid. In A Good Woman, the new screen adaptation of Lady Windermere’s Fan, out this weekend, Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson face a task every bit as challenging: competing with the most scene-stealing location on earth. Even Oscar Wilde’s wittiest bons mots might struggle to hold their own.

The movie relocates Wilde’s action to the Amalfi Coast in the 1930s — and it’s not just the drama of the landscape that the actors have to contend with. The film’s piazzas and palazzos, its polished interiors, glow with a patina even Hollywood can’t fake. They have been burnished by a long history of splendour and suffering, as uniquely Italian as Stradivari’s secret varnish. So where did the makers of A Good Woman find such a convincing replica of Amalfi in the 1930s? They went to Amalfi in 2005.

One of the glories of love’s own coast is that, unlike love itself, it hardly changes. In a place where lemon terraces are chiselled into mountainsides, it is too steep to build much of anything new. The towns are too intimate to allow corporate culture a toehold, and the hotels are some of the most beautiful and sensuous in Italy. Set in splendid villas or medieval convents, they are often owned by the same families that hosted the first Grand Tourists nearly two centuries ago. Now, as then, the word “cheap” is not in the Amalfi dictionary.

Every generation since has willingly succumbed to the sublime vertigo of the Amalfi Coast. Not only holidaymakers and honeymooners: countless wri-ters and composers have found the inspiration for their finest work, mostly about love. It may hog the camera, but in any romance — or film about its foibles — Amalfi ups passion’s ante like nowhere else on earth. So, find A Good Woman (or chap, if that’s your preference), grab our complete guide and plan your route along A Very Good Coast.

Prices are for the shoulder season — June and September. Restaurant prices are per person for a meal with decent wine

AMALFI

AMALFI’S Piazza del Duomo, with its cafe full of lounging gossips, provides one of the principal backdrops for A Good Woman, although the camera never catches the nearby plaque that reads: “Judgment Day, when the Amalfitani go off to heaven, will be a day like any other day.” They’ve some cheek, these sun-kissed lizards, boasting about their good luck to live in lemon-scented paradise.

Amalfi isn’t any bigger than Positano or Ravello, but they named the coast after it because this is where things used to happen. In the 10th century, this village was a Mediterranean power of the first rank: its merchants had a colony in Constantinople, from which they bribed and bullied Byzantine emperors. Naval defeats at the hands of rival Pisa cut Amalfi down to size, and its ruin was complete when an earthquake sent most of the town crashing into the sea in 1343.

Today, it concentrates its memories in the most exotically beautiful cathedral in southern Italy, a building that embodies the Arab-influenced style of the Norman kingdom in Sicily. It has a striped facade overlooking the sea, bronze doors that date from 1066 and a garden cloister of interlaced arches

Don’t miss: an evening on the piazza in nearby Atrani. This little town is gorgeous — and so, according to tradition, are the locals.

Where to stay: the Luna Convento (00 39-089 871002, www.lunahotel.it) was founded by St Francis of Assisi in 1222 and converted into a hotel exactly 600 years later. Rooms here are far from monastic — there is a panoramic pool, and breakfast is served in the enchanting cloister. Ask to see the room where Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House. Doubles start at £173.

Just outside the centre, Hotel Santa Caterina (089 871012, www.hotelsantacaterina.it) evolved from a 19th-century villa into one of the smartest hotels on the coast — Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were recent guests. Teetering high over lush garden terraces and the sea (don’t worry — lifts will whisk you up there), it has a saltwater pool, a spa, a pair of excellent restaurants and truly stunning suites. Doubles start at £260.

Another former villa, the Marina Riviera (089 871104, www.marinariviera.it) enjoys a prime spot overlooking Amalfi’s beach. It’s a bright, airy hotel with cosy furn-ishings, and its rooms come with sea views as standard. Doubles start at £145.

Where to eat: start your eve-ning nibb-ling Italian tapas — stuzzichini — and sipping regional wines at the Cantina San Nicola (089 830 4549), in an evocative convent building of 1180.

Amalfi’s oldest restaurant, Da Gemma (089 871345; about £45), opened in 1872 and still delights diners with seafood (including an exquisite zuppa di pesce) and exotic Amalfitano desserts.

For a romantic evening, La Caravella (089 871029; £60) has antiques-and-candlelight atmosphere, as well as superb antipasti and home-made pasta — and a wine list so fat, it has an index.

Or for gourmet thrills, try the Eolo (089 871241; £110), which offers sophisticated seafood with views over Amalfi’s port. Try the grilled aubergines in chocolate, a classic Amalfitano dessert.

RAVELLO

BALANCED LIKE a ship’s prow high above the sea, Ravello has no beach, but makes up for it with gardens and views to sweep the heart away. It has inspired more than its share of masterpieces — most famously Lady Chatterley’s Lover — although since 2004, it has had to make do without its resident magus, Gore Vidal. Bad knees forced him to sell his beloved Villa Rondinaia: Ravello, you see, has no cars.

Name-dropping is nothing new here. A Ravello merchant, Rufolo, gets a mention in the Decameron, and his 11th-century pleasure palace served as refuge for the one and only English pope, Adrian IV, after he was chased out of Rome by a mob. Wagner was so smitten by the Villa Rufolo that he reimagined its grounds as Klingsor’s magic gardens of seduction in his opera Parsifal. In A Good Woman, the villa plays yet one more role — as the golf club where the heroes thwack balls into The View.

For all that, it is another garden in Ravello, that of the Villa Cimbrone, that is generally acknowledged to be Italy’s most romantic, with its well-named Terrace of Infinity. Roman aristocrats took refuge here from the barbarians in the 5th century AD. In 1904, the medieval villa that grew up above theirs was bought by Ernest William Beckett, later Baron Grimthorpe, who was determined to make the gardens the most beautiful place on earth. And for £3.50, you can spend as long as you like deciding whether or not he succeeded.

Don’t miss: an alfresco con-cert in the staggering setting of Villa Rufolo. There are performances until June 25 and again from September 3 until November. Visit www.ravello.info for the programme; tickets cost £14 and can be reserved on 089 858149.

Where to stay: few hotels can match the bloodlines of the exquisite Palazzo Sasso (089 818181, www.palazzosasso.com). Built in the 12th century by a family that went on to produce two medieval saints and the founder of the Knights of Malta, the palace was reopened in 1997 after a brilliant restoration; once again it is worthy of its past. Room rates here start at £205 — and reach £1,300 for the staggering Suite Infinito.

The Villa Cimbrone (089 857459, www.villacimbrone.it) is the ultimate in (slightly faded) charm and beauty — and well worth the 10-minute slog to get there from the car park. The Bloomsbury group often decamped here, as did Greta Garbo and her lover, the composer Leopold Stokowski. Doubles start at £193.

Where to eat: the Italians have a saying: “In beautiful places, you eat like a dog.”

Not so at Rossellinis, in the Palazzo Sasso (089 818181; £100) — the tables are laid on a magnificent terrace, 1,000ft above the sea, and the chef has won two Michelin stars.

At Villa Maria (089 857170; £35), you’ll dine under the trees on mounds of fettucini with porcini mushrooms, and bumper seafood platters.

If you need a change from the constant barrage of fish, try the succulent meats and wines at Cumpa Cosimo (089 857156; £25), which is housed in a 300-year-old cantina.

And Da Vittoria (089 857947; £14), near the Duomo, does bubbling crispy-crust pizzas and attractive ambience.

POSITANO

THE MOUNTAINS may beetle forbiddingly above, but the ice cream-coloured houses of Italy’s most vertical town seem to laugh as they tumble, one atop the other, down to the sea. The parish church sports a jaunty majolica dome, and it’s typical of Positano that most residents look down upon it — their terraces are like opera boxes above a theatre of pure delight.

Positano’s star status dates from 1953, when John Steinbeck wrote: “Nearly always when you find a place as beautiful as Positano, your impulse is to conceal it” — and thus let the cat out of the bag. At the peak of the dolce vita era, Positano rivalled Capri for jet-set glam. Franco Zeffirelli bought a villa; Patricia Highsmith was on the beach when she had the idea for The Talented Mr Ripley.

Positano is still trendy (consider last season’s revival of Positano sandals). But there’s a new twist to the old town as well — in 1999, its mayor was one of the first to sign the Slow City charter, pledging to minimise noise and junk, and promote the good things in life, such as honest-to-goodness food. The shops in Positano’s jasmine-scented lanes are a self-caterer’s dream.

As elsewhere on the coast, the walks are mindblowing: take a bus up to the mountain village of Nocelle, descend the 2,000 steps to Positano and you’ll see what I mean. Alter-natively, take a boat out to Li Galli. When the sirens failed to lure Odysseus to his death, they turned into these beautiful islets — once the private property of Rudolf Nureyev.


Don’t miss: Emporio Le Sirenuse, a shop replete with some of the most beautiful things euros can buy.

Where to stay: down by the beach, the 18th-century Palazzo Murat (089 875177, www.palazzomurat.it) once belonged to Joachim Murat, brother-in-law of Napoleon and king of Naples. Although it lacks views, the palmy courtyard and antique-furnished rooms ooze the best kind of old-world charm. Doubles start at £160 — but, if you can, pay £260 for one in the delightful old wing. The swish Poseidon (089 811111, www.hotelposeidonpositano.it) occupies a vintage villa set in lovely gardens, and has its own health-and-beauty centre to help bring out your star quality. Doubles start at £183.

Pirandello often stayed at the villa that is now Hotel Casa Albertina (089 875143, www.casalbertina.it). Each room has a terrace, but there are even better views from the rooftop restaurant and wine bar; motorboats are available for private jaunts along the coast. Doubles start at £115.

New by Amalfi Coast standards — it opened in 1970 — Il San Pietro (089 875455, www.ilsanpietro.it) is vertiginously set into cliffs a mile from Positano. This must be a contender for the title of the most drop-dead-gorgeous resort in the world: each room (from £300) was designed as its own “little Eden”, with views, views and more views.

Where to eat: start with a Campari soda at the Bar Inter-nazionale, on Via Marconi, for a sip of the atmosphere of Positano’s glory days. Another long-time favourite, La Cambusa (089 875432; £60), is wonderfully located overlooking the beach: for primo, try the house speciality, penne with prawns, rocket and fresh tomatoes.

With its hundreds of candles and its vaulted ceilings, La Sponda, at the Sirenuse hotel (089 875066; £80), has one of the most magical dining rooms on the coast, not to mention one of the prettiest outdoor terraces. The menu changes with the seasons.

Or else go rustic. Book at Il Ritrovo (089 812005), in Montepertuso, and you’ll be whisked up to its eagle’s-nest terrace on a free shuttle. This is a Slow Food favourite, serving traditional seafood, chicken, vegetables and wines from Campania for less than £30.

SORRENTO

IN THE EARLY 19th century, Grand Tourists began to flee the craziness of Naples for Sorrento, and they’ve never really left. Locals attribute this to the magic powers of the song Come Back to Sorrento, but it’s also a testament to the town’s comfortable, B-movie atmosphere — which may come as a relief after the drama of cliffs and volcanoes that surround it.

Set on sea cliffs in one of the garden spots of Campania, Sorrento has ancient Roman roots — apparent in the narrow grid of its old town. Fortunately, it was far enough away from Vesuvius to survive the blast that buried neighbouring Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Even so, Sorrento has no obligatory “sights”, although two museums display the intricate wooden marquetry (intarsia) at which the townsfolk excel. They sell the stuff, too, along the main shopping street, Via San Cesareo — fondly nicknamed “the Drain” by the expat community.

At some point, when you’ve had your fill of lolling in the sun, take a bus out to Massa Lubrense or Termini and follow one of the trails around the rugged tip of the Sorrentine peninsula. Originally, this extended all the way to Capri, until the latter broke off to make its own island. But the peninsula is endowed with some of the same lush beauty — and without the Capri crowds.

Don’t miss: a lickathon at Gelateria Davide (Via PR Giuliani 41), which offers more than 50 flavours of exceptional ice cream.

Where to stay: run by the same family since 1834, the Excelsior Vittoria (081 807 1044, www.exvitt.it) is in the middle of Sorrento, commanding the sea from amid a lush park scattered with Roman columns. Doubles start at £255, but for a real treat, book the magnificent Caruso’s Suite (£680), unchanged since the sweet-tonsilled tenor stayed for a few months in 1921.

The clifftop Bellevue-Syrene (081 878 1024, www.bellevue.it) was built as a palace in 1750 on the site of a 2nd-century-BC Roman villa, then converted into a hotel in 1820. Thrillingly, guests get to use the Roman baths excavated from the rock, and a lift descends to the swimming platform — even if you aren’t staying here, stop for a drink under the colonnaded pergola, which overlooks the Bay of Naples. Doubles start at £175.

Or sleep in a Saracen tower on a 17th-century lemon farm, Il Giardino di Vigliano (081 533 9823, www.vigliano.org), at Massa Lubrense. As well as simple ensuite rooms, home-made bread and pasta, it offers — rather more abstrusely — the chance to watch the owner sculpt traditional Neapolitan Christmas crib figures. Doubles cost £40, B&B; no credit cards.

Where to eat: Sorrento’s evening passeggiata inevitably leads to Piazza Tasso, where the Bar Il Fauno has been the place to see and be seen since the 1950s. On the same piazza, Ristorante Caruso (081 807 3156; £55) has some of the town’s most inventive cuisine — and one of its longest wine lists — along with a museum dedicated to its eponymous muse.

Sorrento’s fisherfolk live at Marina Grande, where a string of seafood trattorias sell the day’s catch. The oldest, Da Emilia (081 807 2720; £25), offers simple, authentically prepared seafood and lovely views.

Southern Italy’s only restaurant with three Michelin stars, Don Alfonso (081 878 0026, www.donalfonso.com), is six miles from Sorrento in Sant’Agata sui Due Golfi. It’s been run by the same family since 1890, and they’ve a keen interest in Renaissance and baroque recipes — their passion for fresh ingredients recently led them to buy a farm. Expect to splash £125 on an unforgettable dinner with wine to match; there are also five cosy suites (from £135).

CAPRI

NOW FOR dessert — the most delicious, outlandishly beautiful and sybaritic of îles flottantes. Capri was the “Lubberland” of Augustus, and the notorious garden of earthly delights of his adopted son, Tiberius. The author of Lady Windermere’s Fan (A Good Woman was his original title, incidentally) came here too, after his release from Reading jail in 1897. In those days, gay Britannia, hoping to avoid Wilde’s fate, made the island a home away from home.

As one of the world’s first tourist destinations — its fate was sealed in 1826, with the discovery of the iridescent Blue Grotto — Capri has gone through several personality changes. Today, it settles for a post-paparazzi mood of discreet glamour. Its monuments are as dazzling as ever: the Faraglioni rocks rising sheer from the sea; the medieval Certosa; the shimmering sea caves; and Tiberius’s Villa Jovis, one of 12 he built when Capri was the de facto capital of the Roman empire, with its handy cliff for flinging off recalcitrant lovers.

Then there’s the hairpinning ride up to Anacapri, to visit the sublime gardens of Axel Munthe’s Villa San Michele and the church of San Michele, with its majolica floor of Adam and Eve in Paradise — which might, of course, be Capri.

In summer, the island is a victim of its own charms. Day-trippers create human traffic jams in the narrow lanes and throng La Piazzetta, Capri’s ineffably charming open-air parlour. To get a feel for the island, take out a bank loan and stay here. It’s worth it, because, as the crowds depart and the birds begin to trill in the quiet evening, you’ll discover what thousands have discovered before you: that all other destinations are mere pretenders.

Don’t miss: the chairlift up Monte Solaro, to see all Capri and the Bay of Naples wor- shipping at your feet.

Where to stay: just off La Piazzetta, the Quisisana (081 837 0788, — it means “Here one heals”) was built in 1845 by the Scottish doctor George Clark as a sanatorium, but later evolved into one of the most famous hotels in the world. In the evening, its terrace becomes Capri’s glitziest gathering spot. Doubles start at £225.

Boasting the island’s best views and finest sunsets, the luxurious Punta Tragara (081 837 0844, www.hoteltragara.com) occupies a 1920s villa designed by Le Corbusier in one of his gentler moods, with a beautiful seawater pool on the terrace. Doubles start at £180.

A bargain by local standards, the welcoming Villa Krupp (081 837 0362) occupies a panoramic spot near the path to the Gardens of Augustus. The former home of Maxim Gorky, it hosted Lenin and Trotsky — who left a samovar behind. Doubles start at £93.

Where to eat: this is the classic Capri experience — a swim at the Marina Piccola, followed by lunch at Le Canzone del Mare (081 837 0104; £30). It was the inspiration for Noël Coward’s song A Bar on the Piccola Marina, with its immortal line: “Funicula, funiculi, funic-yourself!” Once the day-trippers have vamoosed, join the crowd on the Piazzetta for an aperitivo. And for a frisson of historic atmosphere, you won’t beat the elegant Quisi restaurant, in the Quisisana (evenings only; £60). One expects Somerset Maugham to walk in at any moment. La Capannina (081 837 0732; £40), just off the Piazzetta, has been tops for celebrity-spotting since 1931. The A-list menu choice is aubergines stuffed with ricotta and Capri wine. Graham Greene preferred the cosy Da Gemma, another Capri institution (081 837 0461; £25). Just up from the cathedral, it also does pizzas.

Getting there

British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) flies to Naples from Gatwick, with returns from £69. EasyJet (0905 821 0905, 65p per minute; www.easyjet.com) flies from Stansted; from £95. BMI (0870 607 0555, www.flybmi.com) flies from Heathrow; from £101. Monarch Scheduled (0870 040 5040, www.flymonarch.com) flies from Manchester; from £90. Aer Lingus (0818 365000, www.aerlingus.com) flies to Naples from Dublin; from €160.

Dana Facaros is the co-author of numerous Cadogan travel guides, including Bay of Naples & Southern Italy (£14.99) M Horacek / Bilderberg / Network

How to tour Amalfi in style

IT’S THE perfect touring destination, but how do you get around?


By car: if money’s no object, Regina Agency (00 39 02 287 0092, www.reginaagency.it) can arrange a flash car with a chauffeur from £127 a day. Alternatively, book a car online through Car Hire Express (0870 400 0024, www.carhireexpress.co.uk); prices start at £155 a week. Make sure your accommodation has some kind of parking arrangements (usually at a hefty price).

By public transport: a cheap and efficient option. Next to Naples’s Stazione Centrale is the station for the Circumvesuviana, a little train that departs every half-hour for Sorrento by way of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The hour-long journey costs £2. From Sorrento, green SITA buses depart for Salerno every 50 minutes, stopping at Positano, Amalfi, Ravello and all the other villages on route.

By sea: Navigazione Libera del Golfo (00 39-081 552 0763, www.navlib.it) operates fast hydrofoil services: the 40-minute ride from Naples to Capri, for example, costs £8, one-way. Caremar (081 551 3882, www.caremar.it) sails to Capri from Naples and Sorrento, with one-way fares starting at £4.

On foot: Inntravel (01653 617720, www.inntravel.co.uk) offers seven-day self-guided tours along the Amalfi Coast’s lofty “Path of the Gods”, with your luggage carried ahead, for £958pp in June or September, based on two sharing and including flights from Gatwick, transfers, hotels and most dinners and picnics.

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