Casa Angelina

The Amalfi coast's first real design hotel adds slick white décor, bold artwork and delicate cuisine to those famous sea views.

This 'lifestyle' hotel is a breath of minty-fresh air among a fusty neighbourhood of dated bathroom suites and colour-clashing tiles. Bedrooms are as white as a sunlit snowdrift, with furnishings as modern as Mies and funky as Philippe. Cream sunloungers and parasols adorn a sundeck which buzzes with ambiant music, zappy cocktails and chilled out couples. Colour comes in splashes among the cool and airy living spaces: star-pricked ceilings, vibrant oil panels and outlandish rainbow-glass sculptures from Cuban surrealist Sosabravo.

But it's in no danger of being too cool for its own good. The 'casa' tag, like the unpartitioned balconies and sociable bar, encourage hospitality sans frontières among guests, oiled by first-name friendliness from youthful staff. Though the clientele is cosmopolitan, the buildings remain in the Cappiello family. Quite what Angelina, the late mater familias, would make of her new home, goodness only knows.

Highs

• Plunging 180º sea-views stretching from Capri to Salerno (though slightly marred by tatty buildings in front)
• Easy access to Positano (taxi boat or free shuttle bus) without the noise, congestion and cost of staying in town
• Intriguing art, designer furniture and stylish living spaces
• Unremittingly helpful service earns regular plaudits in the guest book
• Indoor pool and wellness centre for those rare cloudy days
• The first - and only - true design hotel on the Amalfi coast

Lows

• The blindingly white bedroom décor is not for everyone
• Soundproofing could be (and, we are told, will be) improved
• Some of the balconies are small
• Breakfast is a pricey extra
• The hotel's beach is just a small grey-pebble strip 15 minutes' steep walk below - though a lift takes you part way, and of course boats whisk you to better ones