The morning market
Six minutes up the lane, the Piazza Cavour market opens at seven. Go for the basil, the salt-packed anchovies, and the flat peaches in July.
A house above the harbour · Liguria
A small hotel that keeps the shutters open to the sea.
Twenty-two rooms folded into a restored 1890s villa on the Levante coast — long lunches on the terrace, cold marble floors underfoot, and a concierge who books the fishing boat before you ask.
The welcome
Not a resort. A residence you happen to be able to book.
Villa Solene was the summer house of a Genoese shipping family before it was anything else, and it still behaves like one. There is no lobby music, no key cards, no buffet. There is a housekeeper named Rosa who leaves apricots on the windowsill, a stone terrace that catches the four-o'clock light, and a kitchen that cooks whatever the boats brought in that morning.
We keep the house small on purpose — twenty-two rooms, one long table, and enough quiet that you can hear the church bell three villages over. Book direct and Rosa will already know your name at the door.
1890
The year the villa was built
22
Rooms and suites, no two alike
90s
Steps from the terrace to the sea
4pm
When the good light arrives
The rooms
Cool floors, tall windows, and a bed you'll resent leaving.
Every room keeps its original bones — chestnut beams, encaustic tile, a marble washstand — dressed in washed linen and reading lamps warm enough to sleep by. The best face the water; the quietest face the courtyard and its lemon tree.
Browse all rooms
Sea viewThe Terrace Suite
A corner suite with a private stone terrace over the harbour and a deep marble tub.
from€420 / nightDetails
The table
Whatever the boats brought in, cooked simply, eaten slowly.
Lunch is served on the terrace under the fig tree; dinner is one changing menu at a single long table, or à la carte in the vaulted dining room. Chef Elio cooks the Levante the way his grandmother did — anchovies, olive oil, lemon, and restraint.
See the menu
The neighbourhood
The swimming rocks
Skip the sand. Rosa will point you to the flat shelf below the lighthouse where the locals dive — deep, clear, and empty by five.
The cliff path
The old mule track threads the headland to the next village in ninety minutes. We pack the walk with focaccia, a thermos, and two figs.
“
We came for three nights and cancelled the rest of the trip. It is the only hotel where I have felt like a guest in someone's home rather than a reservation number.
Margaux Reyner — Travel + Leisure
Book the house direct.
Send us your dates and a note about the stay you have in mind. We reply personally within a day — and direct guests always get the terrace tables first.