Set the scene. A coastal track meanders alongside wild forest, where wood pigeons coo among the Mediterranean pines and wisteria tangles wildly about the lemon trees. Round a corner and there it is: a blood-red Aragonese castle, built as a watchtower in the 17th century and spruced up to Italian elegance, out on a rocky limb in the electrifying blue-green Gulf of Naples. Stone terraces tumble down the hillside around a fingernail of a bay, set with oversized terracotta pots of palms, seating in the nooks, Indian parasols riffling in the breeze. The suncatcher pool deck has shades of Slim Aarons, day beds dressed up in blue and white stripes.
What’s the backstory? On a mission to create a third hotel, Il Pellicano’s driving force Marie-Louise Sciò (CEO and creative director), spent 10 years searching la tutti Italia for a doer-upper. It had to be just right—"a place that has a soul, and a bit of a story; the right elements that just need to be polished." In Ischia, she found it. "A little bit run down but so charming, with so much potential."
Mezzatorre is a tower built (or half built; literally, "half a tower"—typical, says one islander, of Ischians—they never finished it) as a look-out for marauding Saracen pirates. Then owned by dukes, yada yada, until centuries later, in the 1930s, it wound up as a simple hotel. One owner, writer Luigi Patalano, built a villa on the grounds, bought by film director Visconti. Then along came Pellicano Hotels in 2019, which bought the whole shebang, injecting some va-va-voom and sprucing it up to Italian diva levels.
What can we expect in our room? This being a watchtower, almost all of the rooms have magnificent views of the sea. Ceilings are vaulted, breezy verandas crenelated. Walls run 6.5-feet thick in places. Its solid quietude envelops, like the deeply comfortable beds. Scio curates everything herself and is obsessive about detail, from in-room reading (modern classics and offbeat journals) to artisan treats (chocolate, olives, juices) from the best makers in Italy.
How about the food and drink? The island has a hyper-local food scene and Mezzatorre embraces that. They kept the chef on, an island gent who cooks very fine unfussy food using the local ingredients, allowing the superb quality to shine through. Seafood and the daily catch, cooked simply, is so delicious it makes you want to move immediately to the seaside and take up fishing. There’s a long wine list of purely Italian wines, and the staff’s recommendations never fail to delight. A formal restaurant in a tower-like room is done up richly in Pierre Frey L’Esterel wallpaper; while for brighter, breezier daytime dining, the pool bar and restaurant is a delight, with no less accomplished cooking, wines that can make you cry into your lobster ravioli, and tunes with RPM to match the time of day.
What’s the crowd like? Low-key high-earners. Stars taking a break from the spotlight. Elegant Italians, British, and French, and the Americans who have loved Il Pellicano since an American heiress and her handsome Brit husband built the place. Discerning couples and a few very well-behaved families.
__Anything to say about the service? __ Staff are all local, with an easy warmth about them, and a willingness to chat about this island they love so well.
__What’s the neighborhood scene like? __ Ischia is the down-home sister isle of flashy Capri, whose charms—hot springs, fertile grounds, knock-out beaches—once lured Greeks, Romans, and Golden Age Hollywood. Its more ramshackle corners posed as Capri as the backdrop for The Talented Mr. Ripley. Now it’s a beachy escape for weekending Neapolitans, and Germans taking the waters.
Mezzatorre’s nearest neighbors are La Mortella botanical gardens (created by composer Sir William Walton, who had Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh to stay, among others), and a beach with supernatural green-blue water, a half-hour walk through the property’s seven forested acres—where hidden behind bushes there’s glimpses to be had of Visconti’s abandoned mid-century villa.
Anything else to add? A thermal spa, lined in jungle-green tiles, has its own springs: pools of mineral-rich water and seawater, hot-hot-hot Kneipp pools and a steam room. The lists of treatments and wellness journeys involving vats of healing mud last anywhere from half an hour to six days.
Ask for Tony to take you out on his boat—the same boat he took out "Mr. Matt" during the filming of The Talented Mr. Ripley—shot on Ischia, to represent Capri. Which sums it up, perhaps. This is the Italian island where Italians go, and Brits in the know.
Anything you’d change? The formal restaurant’s tented sides feel a bit like a wedding marquee, and heavily patterned textiles detract from the heart-stopping view.
Is it worth it? God, yes. We could happily spend all summer long on that pool terrace alone. Plus, we love the fact it’s possible to get a double from $270.
Forio, Ischia 80075
Italy
https://www.mezzatorre.com/en/
+39 081 986111