Visit to Villa Rufolo

Wednesday March 21 was another mainly rainy day with a high of only 11C.  We are absolutely loving Ravello and it is our favourite place on the Amalfi coast.  However, we keep thinking how spectacular it would be in the sun, which we have only caught a glimpse of in the early mornings.

I took a photo of the outside of our B & B.  Nonno Francesco is in a great location and it would have been lovely to be able to have breakfast outside on the terrace.

Our B & B-- just leaving late morning when there was no rain
We headed to Villa Rufolo, which is located across from the Bell Tower of the Cathedral and very near the entrance to the city.  Built in the 13th century, it belonged to the powerful and wealthy Rufolo family.  It was then passed by inheritance to other owners.  In the middle of the 19th century it was sold to the Scotsman Francis Neville Reid who undertook a major restoration.  The tower has been modernized and houses a small museum.  We visited the tower at the end of our tour. There is a large courtyard elevated like a cloister near the entrance.

The gardens are amazing and are still maintained by the descendants of the original team of gardeners.  Richard Wagner was so inspired by the gardens when he visited in 1880 that he modelled the garden of Klingsor (the setting for the second act of the opera Parsifal) on them.

Every year in July and August there is a stage built which projects out over the sea near the gardens, and is used for the Ravello Festival. There are also the remains of the sites of mineral spring baths and the cellars of the Villa which are used as a theatre.
Tower on the left and entrance to the Villa

Just inside was a coffee machine-- anything you want

Cloisters
Beautiful detail

View of the tower from inside the property
View of one of the gardens
Alain in the theatre part of the building


Bird of Paradise

Back of the Villa

Gorgeous garden

                                                                     Starting to bloom

                                                                  Another garden photo

Inside the theatre section

View up at the cloister area

The uncovered baths

Lemon tree, very pretty
Another view from the gardens to the sea


The view

The view with the two of us

 The gardens getting ready to bloom-- the Ravello Festival stage is built out from this area

 Can't resist this photo from the garden looking at the sea


No idea who the purple man is

We then went into the Villa.  There are beautiful tiled floors and murano glass chandeliers. 

                                                                                      Alain in the Villa

                                                                              Great door frames on each room

Lovely glass chandelier

Room with a view

View down at another part of the gardens

Another glass chandelier

Blue tiles

Our last stop was to climb the tower, which houses a small museum of items from the Villa and some modern videos and displays.
Inspiration for Richard Wagner

Artifact from the Villa

I took a panorama photo from the top of the tower-- unfortunately there was a plexiglass barrier.  Makes for an interesting shot.



View from the Villa Rufolo tower of the Cathedral tower across the way

                                                    View from the tower looking out at the sea

 We left the Villa Rufolo and I took a picture of the tunnel looking back to the entrance to the town.  Pictures from past festivals adorn the tunnel.



Just outside the entrance to the Villa was a picture of the stage that is installed every year at the edge of the gardens for the summer Festival.   The Chamber Music festival which starts next week takes place in indoor venues and other concerts take place in the Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium.  



We went back to the B & B for a short stop and then headed right back to Al San Domingo, the bar/café in the main square that has been around since 1929.  It wasn't open yesterday (in the off-season the cafés in the main square each take a different day off).  There are pictures inside of Gore Vidal and also Jaqueline Kennedy who holidayed in Ravello with her sister for two weeks in 1962.

 Outside of Al San Domingo-- the small attached restaurant is called Humphrey's Room
                                                                          Having our coffees at the bar

In the main square we saw an information display about the filming of Beat the Devil in 1953 with Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones directed by John Huston with the screenplay by Truman Capote.  Robert Capa was also there taking publicity shots.  According to the info display, the cast and crew played poker during the filming and Huston and Bogart were the big winners.



We went back to the B & B to get out of the rain.  At about 7:30 p.m., we headed out for dinner.  We went back to Pizzeria Vittoria and shared a plate of linguini with pine nuts, walnuts and anchovies, and a mozzarella di buffalo and tomato pizza.  Every meal at the restaurant starts with a glass of prosecco and an amuse bouche.  The food and service were excellent.  
                                                                    Anchovies as our amuse bouche

                                                  Linguini with a fabulous walnut, pine nut and anchovy pesto sauce (no cheese!)

                                                    Alain with his pizza-- very tasty

 We made it back to the B & B just before the rain started to pour again.  Wednesday night was our last night in Ravello.  On Thursday, we head to Naples for six nights.  We have really enjoyed Ravello and would recommend it as a base for travel in the Amalfi coast.   

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