Ravello sits 365 meters above the sea — high enough to be above the Amalfi Coast traffic, the tourist crowds, and the price anxiety. Villa Cimbrone's Terrace of Infinity (€7) is a marble balustrade overlooking the entire coast, and Gore Vidal — who lived here for 30 years — called it "the most beautiful place I've ever seen." The Ravello Festival (June-September) stages classical concerts on the cliff-edge terrace of Villa Rufolo, where Wagner composed parts of Parsifal in 1880 and where you now sit listening to Beethoven while the Mediterranean shimmers 365 meters below and the Amalfi Coast curls away into the evening haze. Hotels here are somehow more affordable than Positano despite being more beautiful. Stay here. This is where to sleep on the Amalfi Coast.
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