Former Italian monastery turned glorious hotel gets a revamp

Thailand-based Minor Hotels has been on something of an expansion bender, especially in Europe where it acquired the Madrid-based NH Hotels a few years back, instantly adding more than 350 properties, primarily in Europe and South America to its portfolio in the process.

For hotel lovers that translates to good news, because not content to just acquire NH’s real estate and operational arrangements, Minor Hotels is also transforming many of its properties with top-to-toe renovations and new standards of service.

The latest example of this is a clifftop hotel on Italy’s Amalfi Coast which has been rebranded from an NH to join Minor’s luxury group Anantara.

The Anantara Convento di Amalfi Grand Hotel is situated for glorious sea views and is built around an 800-year old Cistercian monastery – historic remnants including ornate cloisters and there’s also an intact Baroque church in the complex. Many of the property’s 52 guest rooms and suites are in the monks’ quarters and bear original architecture including vaulted ceilings and some tiles.

In keeping with this history, gone is the noughties white-on-white decor of its NH predecessor. The Anantara Amalfi is filled with materials sourced from nature – wood, leather, natural fibres and metals, blended with the luxurious details for which Anantara is known in a serene colour palette and understated design.

Picks of the bunch are the Suite Del Priore featuring frescoes above a four-poster bed and views of the cloisters, and the Suite Dell’Eremita, which sits separately amidst a lemon grove.

An Anantara Spa has been added and features three treatment rooms with sea views. The open-air gym and cliffside swimming pool have both been refurbished.

At restaurant Dei Cappucinni, executive chef Claudio Lanuto, who worked at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck, has created a menu inspired by the site’s history, using ingredients grown in the kitchen garden.