The Villa started as an ancient Cistercian woman’s monastery, which was built in the 12th century. The transformation in 1569 started with the Mornico family from Valassina, who owned the property for more than three centuries.

The Villa was built by the wealthy Rufolo family in the 13th century. When built, it was one of the largest, most expensive villas on the Amalfi coast.

Alex Munthe said this about Villa San Michele, ‘My house must be open to the sun, to the wind and the voice of the sea, just like a Greek temple, and light, light, light everywhere!’

Villa Cimbrone stands on a rocky outcrop known as ‘cimbronium’, and that is where the villa got its name. The property originally belonged to the noble Acconciajoco family and then passed to the powerful and wealthy Fuscos in the 1300s.

Villa Melzi was built as the summer home of the vice-president of the Napoleonic Italian Republic, Duke Francesco Melzi D’Eril. The neoclassical mansion, set in beautiful grounds with classical statues, century-old trees and exotic vegetation, was built between 1808 and 1813.