The Villa Rufolo in Ravello has fantastic views down the Amalfi Coast from its gardens and terraces
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Contributor:
Brenda Kean / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
PY4T9AFile size:
45.3 MB (2.6 MB Compressed download)Releases:
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3448 x 4592 px | 29.2 x 38.9 cm | 11.5 x 15.3 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
5 April 2018Location:
Ravello italyMore information:
Ravello is high above the Amalfi Coast in Southern Italy. It is a beautiful hill town with fantastic views over the coastline. Wagner wrote some of his operas whilst staying at the Villa Rufolo and the annual Ravello festival is held on a stage built over the clifftop garden of the Villa Rufolo. Ernest William Beckett, the designer of Big Ben, the clock in the houses of Parliament in London, Lord Grimethorpe came to the Villa Cimbrone nearby while on the Grand Tour. Villa Cimbrone owes its charm not only to the extraordinary beauty of the place, but also to centuries of culture and tradition. In 1904, Lord Grimethorpe purchased it and inspired by the deep affection he felt for the villa, he decided to make it come alive again by transforming it into a splendid jewel and the most gorgeous place in the world. He was assisted in the fulfilment of this dream by an inhabitant in Ravello, Nicola Mansi. It is believed that the English botanist Vita Sackville-West may have participated in the planning of the garden. She was in turn a friend and admirer of the famous gardening expert Gertrude Jekyll. The Villa has been home to many famous names from the world of art, science and politics. It was a meeting place on the Amalfi coast for the famous London Bloomsbury set. To mention just a few illustrious guests: E.M. Forster, Lytton Strachey, Keynes, Henry Moore, TS Elliot, Crick, Piaget, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Winston Churchill. It was the setting for the famous elopement of actress Greta Garbo and Leopold Stokowsky