MONASTERO SANTA ROSA HOTEL & SPA REOPENS FOR ITS 10TH
SEASON
WITH NEW EXECUTIVE CHEF ALFONSO CRESCENZO AT THE
HELM
Leading the Amalfi Coast’s culinary scene with plans to elevate their garden-to-fork offering even further in 2022
Where the great and the good have flocked for a decade boasting unrivalled cliffside views
Suspended between sky and sea, the iconic Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa reopens its doors on 14th April 2022 for its 10th season. In line with the reopening, the hotel is delighted to announce new Executive Michelin star Chef, Alfonso Crescenzo. Heading up the culinary offerings across the property, which include not only at the starred Il Refettorio, but also at the traditional restaurant L’Antica Rosa and the Mezzogiorno Pool Café, Crescenzo is putting the emphasis on locality and seasonality. This approach will be echoed in new guest offerings linking wellness and gastronomy and highlighting the ‘La Dolce Vita’ lifestyle for which the Amalfi Coast is famed.
With a focus on showcasing the incredible regional delicacies of this quiet corner of the coast, it is fitting that Crescenzo was born in Sarno, Salerno – the same region where the hotel is located and boasts sweeping views.
Crescenzo approached cooking at an early age – starting his culinary journey by observing his grandmother – keeper of treasured recipes that over time would become the protagonists of his menus and preparing traditional regional dishes for the family. His interpretation of the local cuisine combining tradition and creativity earned him impressive accolades, including the coveted Michelin star, which he achieved in 2016. Crescenzo went on to work alongside world-famous Chefs in Italy and France – from Andrea Berton at the Trussardi alla Scala in
Milan to the great Gianni D’Amato of Rigoletto, Pino Lavarra at Palazzo Sasso and George Blanc Vonnas of the three Michelin star Georges Blanc Vonnas Restaurant. At Monastero Santa Rosa, Crescenzo will elevate the existing historic herb garden – bolstering the number of seasonal ingredients harvested from the terraced garden as well as sourcing ingredients from his organic farm Terre Lavorate. This will be developed further in the season with the launch of specially curated wellness and food programmes for guests to experience a true taste of the Southern Italian lifestyle.
Among the Chef’s signature dishes is the “Cro Estatina”, a biscuit made with oil, water, and flour, filled with celery cream, garnished with marinated tomatoes and caramelized Tropea onions, served with a basil ice cream.
Another must-have for guests to try is the signature Sfogliatella – created by the nuns who resided in the Monastery in the kitchen of the convent. Since the 17th Century the Monastery has witnessed culinary innovations and this continues today through Chef Crescenzo’s creations – exquisite specialties served in an international context. For example, Crescenzo will give a new look to the Sfogilatella, and the Babbà Napoletano filled with a Strega di Benevento liqueur-based cream and strawberries.
Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa is a spectacular former monastery, which has been restored into just twenty beautiful sea-view guest rooms and suites. The structural masterpiece was built at the end of the 17th century, home to nuns, before being transformed into a hotel in 1924, and later left completely abandoned. The property was brought and restored in 2000 by the American entrepreneur Bianca Sharma, who, within 12 years, transformed the building into a boutique hotel. Hidden away on the coastline – the hotel boasts the finest and most romantic spa in this part of Italy. The wide selection of treatments on offer have been exclusively created for the hotel using Santa Maria Novella products. Monastero’s gardens, set over five tiers, are impeccably groomed with beautiful water features, tactfully placed benches, and day beds for admiring the vibrant flowers and amazing views. The starred restaurant Il Refettorio, led by Chef Alfonso Crescenzo, offers a gastronomic experience strongly linked to the region and its products, but with a gourmet and contemporary touch. For guests keen to explore, the hotel is perfectly located just a 20-minute car or boat ride from some of the coastline’s most scenic towns including Positano, Amalfi and Ravello.
MONASTERO SANTA ROSA HOTEL & SPA
An exclusive boutique hotel and luxury spa converted
from a 17th century monastery
Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa is a former monastery suspended over a cliff edge, situated between Amalfi and Positano. The 20-bedroom hotel is home to a Michelin star restaurant, award-winning spa, outdoor gym, infinity pool, 12th century chapel, stunning landscaped gardens and historic herb garden and is a true hidden gem in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa is a former monastery which opened in May 2012, following a huge restoration undertaken by the owner, Bianca Sharma, who brought the property in 1999. Bianca caught sight of the property by chance when travelling in the area and immediately fell in love with the property which offers one of the most dramatic locations and views in the world. After acquiring the building, she worked closely with a local team of architects, engineers and historical authorities to transform the former monastery into a luxury hotel and spa whilst maintaining the integrity of the building. The hotel is built directly into the side of the cliff with the floors connected by a glass-fronted elevator allowing panoramic views of the hotel’s gardens and the sea. It combines a historical setting with completely unique rooms and boasts an incredible infinity pool literally ‘hanging’ over the cliff.
In one of the hotel’s 20 suites, all of which face the sea and are named after herbs grown in the hotel’s herb garden. Each room is individual and features antiques hand-picked by Bianca herself, sourced locally from Santa Rosa and from her travels across Italy, while historical photographs of the area and the monastery itself dot the walls, adding to the sense of history. The vaulted ceilings and arched windows of the nun’s rooms and refectory have been carefully preserved and are cleverly linked together with en-suite bathrooms to create truly contemporary spaces. Some of the suites offer private terraces overlooking the sea, ideal for romantic breakfasts and pre-dinner drinks.
At Monastero’s extraordinary Spa, designed by Jane Goff to fit within the original 17th century vaulted ceilings and rustic stone walls. The spa is home to a Thermal Suite, which interconnects a stunning double height vaulted Tepidarium (warm relaxing room) with heated benches and whirlpool footbaths, a domed herbal Steam Room, a Crushed Ice Fountain to refresh between thermal baths, a wood Sauna, Hydrotherapy Pool and Experience Shower. There is also a Rasul, Steam Room, two wet treatment tables, two dry treatment beds and relaxation area accommodating manicures/pedicures and footbaths. There is also a Private Walled Outdoor Treatment Pavilion located under a shaded canopy, for those opting to have their treatments outside. The treatments are exclusively created for Monastero Santa Rosa using Santa Maria Novella oils, creams and lotions handmade in a quaint factory in Florence.
The products follow the ancestral tradition of Italian herbalists, using plants and flowers known for their healing powers as traditionally grown in the monasteries.
On Michelin star cuisine at Ristorante Il Refettorio, the hotels exceptional restaurant led by Executive Chef Alfonso Crescenzo. It has original vaulted ceilings and offers cuisine from the Campania region. Menus change with the season and dishes feature fresh seafood delivered that same day by the local fishermen, locally produced olive oil, and organically grown vegetables and herbs straight from the hotel’s garden. Signature creations include a starter of a trio of crustaceans – lobster with chickpea puree and smoked olive oil broad bean salad with Colonnata’s bacon and king prawn ravioli with Corbara’s tomatoes and candied lemon and for main – a mouth-watering fusilli with baby squids, Piennolo’s tomatoes and basil-scented aubergines. Destination dining experiences are also available upon request.
Rooms start from €400 (approx. $472) on a B&B basis plus taxes
monasterosantarosa.com
In Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi Coast
AN EXCEPTIONAL LUXURY HOTEL AMIDST THE ANCIENT WALLS OF THE SANTA ROSA MONASTERY
The portal, austere and modest, as befits a monastery, reveals with its uncertain engravings the signs of the time. Over three centuries: 1681. The bell, no! It has been faithfully rebuilt. Just a toll…maybe two. It was enough for letting an invisible nun, hidden behind a grid, open the door.
The idea to propose that sound again, there, on the facade of the
monastery, seemed to Flavio Colantuoni the simplest and most authentic form of announcement for guests of Santa Rosa.
“It’s the little things that often give us a strong emotion. That sligh tring of a bell is a dive into the past. Not to mention that the sound brings out the entire staff at the reception, ready to give arriving guests every form of comfort, from the collection of luggage to the parking of the car and the check-in procedures, so that the client immediately perceives the different atmosphere of the Santa Rosa, also, if compared with the best hotel reception ceremonials.”
Colantuoni – from Padua, of ancient Samnite origins, instinctively nice, General Manager of Santa Rosa Hotel and Spa, formerly governing other prestigious accommodation facilities like Palazzina Grassi in Venice – has experienced for himself the latest phase of a long and exhausting restoration of the Monastery of Conca dei Marini.
Such renovation work has lasted more than a decade, due to many
obstacles and impediments, and also because the whole work has been designed – at the express request of the ownership – in absolute and strict adherence to the existing spaces and volumes. It is a renovation both conservative and philological, in order to bring back to the old monastery – high, in its majestic solitude on the steep rock relief – the charm of a place and of a civilization beyond comparison.
Just think of the expensive recovery, even of seemingly unimportant elements, and yet expression of an era and of a way of life: from the wooden doors of the cells to the wrought and forged iron following the long walkways. On the other hand, if you consider that only twenty rooms and suites (almost all of them born by the merging of more cells and by the need of adequate services) have been made from such a large-sized complex, it is easy to deduce that the restoration is to be considered above all an act of love, which has given birth to a real legend.
Mrs. Bianca Sharma, famous American businesswoman and refined art and antiques collector, discovered the monastery during a boat trip along the coast. The view of the massive building, almost hanging over the sea, and its self-evident condition of deterioration, urged her to buy it. The aim was primarily to save a monument of extraordinary beauty, in a context which has no equal. The adventure began with a thousand obstacles and harassments, even when all requirements were satisfied and all permits acquired. But the American lady held out; she suffered but didn’t give up, although this situation often posed a threat to the whole project.
Now the Monastery of Santa Rosa is a unique luxury hotel, like few in the world, for its exceptional location and the unique atmosphere that circulates within its walls. In fact, while offering every comfort, and the highest level of quality and service, it preserves an atmosphere and a taste from olden times. Something that allows guests to immerse themselves in another world, without renouncing the benefits of progress.
What really makes a stay at the Monastery attractive and unexpected is the chance to live in harmony with one’s state of mind and the different moods that often mark our days. First, there is the magic distribution of particularly neat gardens on four levels; then, the infinity pool, which seems to have no boundaries between sea and sky; and then the rooms, and, much more, the suites: a unique place between exposure and décor, a touch of real sophistication, which makes Santa Rosa a fully fascinating “locus animi.“ But it is the space – referred to as an uncommon dimension – that is the absolute protagonist of Santa Rosa.
It became, thanks to a Roman businessman, a hotel in 1924 and one of the thirty-nine Relais Chateaux, whose slogan read:
“
The sun in every window, the sea from every window
.”
Today, the Monastery is both a luxury hotel and a fully equipped Spa with sauna, Turkish bath, showers, hydrotherapy pool and tepidarium. In short, a successful integration to make your stay relaxing and complete. A special mention must be made of the restaurant where award-winning chefs keep amazing even the most demanding gourmets.
Mrs. Bianca, though fully absorbed by her commitments, doesn’t fail to dedicate herself to Santa Rosa, where she has variously put, with great sensibility, the most valuable pieces of her antiquarian property. And so, Nature, which offers itself in all of its beauty, is joined by the serenity and peace of the old monastery. They both give rise to a kind of enchantment that only Santa Rosa can induce.
BIGRAPHY OF BIANCA SHARMA
Bianca Sharma first arrived to the Amalfi Coast in the summer of 2000, when she sighted the Monastero Santa Rosa while on vacation with her sons and family friends. The structure captivate d her, and she instantly conjured a vision to develop a first-class sanctuary that allows guests to engage with the luxury and hospitality of the Coast in the same way she had experienced.
Bianca has since become one of its most passionate business owners and residents.
Over the subsequent decade, she proceeded to renovate the Monastero Santa Rosa, then a neglected monument, with the intention to redefine luxury accommodation, dining, and relaxation in a way that is simple yet attentive to every detail.
She’s passionate about all things travel-related and, when she’
s not on property, she spends her time traveling to her own favorite destinations as well as enjoying her time spent with her two children, family or friends at home in the United States.
Following Amalfi Coast tradition, Bianca has recently had the pleasure to bring her son, Nathan Sharma, into the business. Nathan is a graduate of New York University, with an undergraduate degree in restaurant management and a graduate degree in hospitality finance.
He has now taken over the hotel’s marketing and financial planning, as well as working closely with the restaurant and kitchen to insure that the hotel offers the best culinary experience on the coast.
FLAVIO COLANTUONI GENERAL MANAGER
After a long experience and a success ful career, being always the
leading player in the opening and launching of international level
hotels, Mr Flavio Colantuoni was called, in 2011, by the American entrepreneur Bianca Sharma who asked him to be at her side to set, sartorially speaking, the general planning of Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & SPA: he has been its General Manager since.
Flavio Colantuoni started his career when he was very young. After graduating at the Professional Hotel School in Abano Terme, his first job was at the Excelsior Palace in Venice. He has then worked in man
y important European hotels, among which the Ritter’s Park Hotel
in Bad Homburg, Germany, the Grand Hotel at Eastbourne, England, the Tschuggen Grand Hotel at Arosa, Switzerland, and the Palace and the Suvretta in St. Moritz.
In the above mentioned hotels, all extra luxury hotels, he has gained experience in different departments and, at the same time, he has attended refresher courses, both professional and linguistic, so much so that he can speak and write German, French and English correctly.
To crown all these experiences in the elite European hotellerie, he was appointed member of the Marketing Strategic Committee in the prestigious German hotel chain “Steigenberger”. Here he was able to make positive use of his experiences gained in so many years, focusing, together with other colleagues of him, particularly on the marketing of the 200 hotels of the Steigenberger Company and, at the same time, consulting, planning and following renovations and new constructions of hotels with their relative start up.
This led him to work in hotels in Paris, London, Bruxelles, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv and Bangkok.
Before being the General Manager of Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa, Mr Flavio Colantuoni had managed the “Palazzina Grassi” in Venice, on the Grand Canal, a few steps from “Palazzo Grassi”, the Modern Art Museum. He followed the hotel restoration and succeeded to include it in the Design Hotels sector.