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 Welcome to a world of elegance and refinement where hospitality and service are second to none. Standing amid verdant woodlands overlooking a ravishing seascape, the Hotel Splendido is a unique blend of beauty and comfort. The Splendido Mare is part of the bigger Hotel Splendido and it situated in the heart of Portofino village with wonderful views of the harbour and the Castle Brown. It shares most of the facilities of the Hotel Splendido.
HOTEL SPLENDIDO
Originally a monastery, the four-story building was attacked with such frequency in the sixteenth century by Saracen pirates that the monks abandoned it to the sheep that roamed the coastal hills. In the nineteenth century, Baron Baratta revived the wreck, converting it into a family summer house. It had been built on an east-west axis, following the contour of the hill, so that as well as having views of the sea from all its principal windows, it also had the sun all day. In 1901 Mr. Ruggero Valentini, the pioneer of tourism at Portofino, transformed Villa Baratta into the Grand Hotel Splendid. |
 Since the beginning the hotel has played host to the most famous and noble families in Europe and the cream of the international jet-set. The Duke of Windsor was the first person to sign the visitors' book at the Hotel Splendido in Portofino. His name is scrawled next to that of Wallis, his wife. In 1952 they were the first in a long list of illustrious visitors who came to cushion themselves against the uncomfortable realities of life.
Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Catherine Deneuve, Liza Minelli and Rex Harrison all stayed at the Splendido. In the Fifties and the Sixties, Harrison, who had a villa on the slopes above the Splendido, transferred la Dolce Vita from Rome to Portofino, where he played it out on the hotel's celebrated terrace, at his villa and in the bars and restaurants of the little port. |
 Today the Splendido still has a patrician air. It is not a grand hotel in the conventional sense, it has none of the sumptuous fantasy of the Ritz and it doesn't pretend to be a setting for elaborate social rituals. Instead it is quietly democratic. The principal reception rooms are furnished with old style glasses, gilt console tables and Persian rugs, the dining room serves food based on local, even peasant, traditions - fresh fish, home made pasta and lots of local aromatic herbs. The gardens run down the slopes beneath the hotel to the sea, bushes of lavender and wild herbs grow thickly under old olive trees and tangles of bougainvillaea obscure the paths and overhang secluded garden benches. |
 In 1985 Orient-Express Hotels bought the Hotel and started a long-term project of renovation. All rooms have since been completely redecorated and refurbished. In the last two years, the Indoor Restaurant and the Piano Bar have been re-positioned and decorated in a Ligurian-Mediterranean design that complements the style of the Hotel. Both border the terrace and enjoy an immediate link with the outside and a beautiful view over the entire bay of Portofino.
This winter at the Splendido will be a busy season, we are in the process of creating the new Presidential Suite and upgrading the facilities of our existing suites. As a result of this activity we will loose one key but to the great advantage of the refurbishing of the others. The Splendido is preparing itself for the challenges it will face in the next century and will continue to offer its guests the highest standards of international hotel-keeping in a relaxed, comfortable and informal atmosphere. |
 HOTEL SPLENDIDO MARE
The building that today is the Splendido Mare does not truly have an historical background such as the Hotel Splendido has. We know for certain that part of it was built together with the rest of the village on pre-existent buildings inhabited by the indigenous people, the Ligurians, before Roman times. In fact Portofino was already a fishing village when the Roman historian, Plinius, visited the cluster of houses called "Portus Delphini".
We also know for certain that the same building was turned into the only hostel in Portofino by a retired fisherman called Silvio Gazzolo in the first years of the 20th century, a place where visitors arriving by horse-drawn mail coaches could find delicious sea-food in the only "osteria" and a clean bed. The name by which the hostel was known, was the "Nazionale". In those days, the surface on which now stands the "Chuflay Bar" was an orchard with a well, and four generations of the same family then built additional rooms until the structure reached its present form as the Splendido Mare. |
 In 1997 Orient Express Hotels acquired a portion of the larger property and soon started a massive renovation project, with the elimination of some of the smallest rooms and cramped, uncomfortable bathrooms, creating larger, sunny and well appointed double rooms, junior suites and suites. Most of them have balconies and terraces overlooking the Piazzetta and the waterfront. The rooms that don't have a seaview have wonderful views over the roofs of Portofino and the amphitheatre of hills dotted with villas that surround the village.
This marvellous view can also be enjoyed from the large "Terrazza" at the top of the hotel, where guests can enjoy chilled drinks at sunset or under the starry Mediterranean sky. For those who wish to be part of the "see and be seen" crowd, the best place is the "Chuflay Bar" right on the Piazzetta, where breakfast, brunch, dinner and in between drinks and high tea can be taken stretching the day until the early hours of the morning, watching the passing crowds and spotting, may be, a famous face. |
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