Grand Hotel Quisisana

The Quisisana opened in 1845 as a sanatorium—the name means 'here one heals'—and evolved into the social headquarters of Capri, its white facade commanding Via Camerelle where the island's designer boutiques now parade. For more than a century its front terrace has been the place from which to watch Capri go by, a shifting cast of writers, industrialists and screen stars filling the wicker chairs each evening.

Inside, the hotel keeps a bright Mediterranean classicism: cool tiled floors, vaulted ceilings, blue-and-white fabrics and Gio Ponti-era echoes in the public rooms. Rooms and suites vary from garden-facing calm to sea-view balconies over the rooftops toward the Certosa and the sea. The scale—generous by Capri standards—brings gardens, two pools and space to retreat from the island's high-season crush.

Dining moves from the colonnaded Rendez Vous on the terrace to poolside lunches and elegant evenings at Quisi; the bar remains the island's aperitivo institution. The Piazzetta is two minutes' stroll, the Gardens of Augustus and Marina Piccola paths just beyond. Newer arrivals may be more fashionable, but none is more Capri than the Quisisana.