Villa Cimbrone

If you're lucky enough to be staying here, you'll have these beautiful gardens all to yourself once the sun has set, and they really are magnificent. There are six hectares of parkland and, while the design was influenced by certain existing features - such as the Renaissance walkway established by the original Fusco family (again, sadly no relation as I wouldn't have minded laying claim to this place) - 'new' designs were added along the way that bore the influence of famous landscape gardeners such as Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll. There are so many different areas to explore it's hard to pick a few for special mention but the Rose terrace is wonderful, Eve's grotto reveals a marble statue of the naked lady herself by sculptor Tadolini, a favourite of Canova, the Terrace of Infinity offers spectacular views along the Amalfi Coast (Richard Wagner described it as 'the most beautiful of all') and the gothic-styled Crypt, modelled on Yorkshire's Malton Abbey as a tribute by Cimbrone's owner, Lord Grimthorpe, was a favourite meeting place of the Bloomsbury Group.