In Sorrento, Grand Hotel La Favorita tells a long story of family hospitality through Vietri ceramics, citrus gardens, rooms inspired by Mediterranean homes, a terrace overlooking the Gulf and a gastronomic offering that completes the portrait of a house created to welcome its guests.
The first mistake would be to call it simply a hotel. Grand Hotel La Favorita is, rather, a grand Sorrento home that has grown over time, becoming a hotel without losing the character of a private residence. Vietri majolica, antique furniture, citrus gardens, terraces overlooking the Gulf and a family that has understood the art of hospitality for generations come together in a place where luxury is entrusted to the details. The story of the Manniello family, after all, begins at the table and reaches all the way to the rooms of La Favorita, spanning more than a century of restaurants, hospitality and ties to the local area. It is this family thread that holds the hotel’s identity together, turning a stay into something that feels more like time spent in a private home than simply a night away.
A Family, a Story, a Vision of Hospitality
To understand Grand Hotel La Favorita, you have to start with the Manniello family. Their entrepreneurial story in Sorrento has its roots in the restaurant business and has evolved over the generations to encompass hospitality as well. In the early 1960s, Giuseppe Manniello expanded the business together with his three sons, who were then little more than twenty years old, entering the hotel industry and contributing to the growth of Sorrento’s hospitality scene. Today, Giuseppe Manniello Junior and Mario Manniello, members of the fourth generation, continue this journey alongside the family.
“We grew up surrounded by hospitality, and it is with this spirit that every day we continue to build a project shaped by emotion, care and vision,” explains Mario Manniello, Manager of Operations and Owner of Grand Hotel La Favorita. His words offer a way of looking at the property beyond its role as a hotel: for the Manniello family, hospitality is part of a family legacy that continues to evolve over time, while remaining grounded in a commitment to guest care, a strong connection with Sorrento and the desire to create experiences that can grow and change.
The family carries an even older story with it: that of O’ Parrucchiano, the historic restaurant founded in 1868 that would go on to become one of the city’s most recognisable names. (Here is the full story, from the garden tables to the iconic cannelloni, which were created right here at the restaurant.) Restaurant and hospitality thus followed two parallel paths, eventually coming together within a shared vision: revealing Sorrento through what makes it distinctive, from cuisine to citrus fruits, from ceramics to its culture of hospitality. “We believe in the power of innovation, the quality of the experience and hospitality that knows how to surprise,” Manniello adds. This perspective also explains the evolution of La Favorita, where family heritage coexists with new ideas and initiatives that look firmly towards the present.
A Mediterranean Home of Ceramics, Art and Memory
The impression is that of walking through a large private home, built around a distinct vision of Mediterranean elegance. The bright, richly detailed lobby welcomes guests with hand-painted Vietri majolica made by local artisans, in shades of lemon yellow, cobalt blue and green, while white wood panelling, pastel velvets, damask sofas and inlaid wooden furniture create a space with a strong sense of character. The interior design unfolds through a collection of details that seem to belong to different eras, yet come together in perfect harmony: ceramics, vintage prints, mirrors with gilded frames, antiques and richly textured fabrics create a distinctly Sorrento aesthetic. The Mediterranean emerges through materials and colour, rather than through an explicit representation of the landscape.
The 86 rooms, spread across three floors, follow the same approach. Classic, Superior, Deluxe and Junior Suites differ in size and features, while each floor has its own colour identity: the first plays with white and blue, the second introduces yellow alongside blue, and the third brings yellow to life with green. Murano glass lamps, Vietri ceramics, antique furniture and decorative details give each room its own distinctive character. The terraces then extend the rooms towards the surrounding landscape, with views that draw the eye towards the Gulf of Naples and Mount Vesuvius, or across the lush greenery of the gardens. The overall impression is of a form of hospitality built through layers rather than uniformity. Each element adds a small piece to the story of the house, much as it does in a private residence, where objects arrive over the years and eventually come together to tell the story of those who live there.
The Secret Lemon Garden
If the interiors tell the story of La Favorita’s devotion to beauty, the Secret Garden represents its most intimately Mediterranean side. Pergolas, flower-filled terraces, plants, large terracotta pots and, above all, lemon trees transform the outdoor space into a kind of open-air room. Sorrento’s most distinctive citrus fruit takes on a role that goes far beyond decoration. It is part of the landscape, the family’s imagination and its culinary history. The same fragrance that accompanies a stroll through the garden also finds its way into the kitchen and the hotel’s food culture, creating a natural continuity between what guests see and what they encounter at the table.
“Even today, we welcome guests beneath the lemon trees, in a garden filled with the fragrance of memory and beauty, where every detail tells the story of who we are,” explains Mario Manniello. And it is precisely this relationship with the garden that offers a deeper understanding of La Favorita’s identity: hospitality is built around a complete sense of place, in which nature, cuisine, architecture and family history move together. “The same lemons that frame the restaurant tables can be found throughout the gardens of La Favorita, creating a living, authentic connection between past and present, between cuisine and hospitality,” Manniello adds. The garden thus becomes a true extension of the house. A place to pause, eat, have a drink or simply step away from the rhythm of the city for a few minutes, allowing the greenery to define the space around you.
The Terrace Overlooking the Gulf
The connection with the surrounding landscape takes on a different dimension on the rooftop of Grand Hotel La Favorita. Here, an infinity pool and the Bellavista Cocktail Bar offer an open view across the Gulf of Naples, Capri and Mount Vesuvius. The terrace changes character throughout the day. The pool and relaxation areas belong to the brighter hours, while at sunset the rooftop becomes a place for aperitivo and evening drinks, with lava-stone tables, fabrics in shades of white and blue, lanterns and live music. Art also becomes part of the story here through Busy Doing Nothing, an installation by artist Pietro Terzini, set within a space that maintains a constant connection with the panorama.
The Bellavista’s offering accompanies the moment with a cocktail menu that brings together original creations and contemporary takes on mixology. Among the signatures is the Bellavista Secret, made with Tanqueray No. 10 Gin, St-Germain, lychee, peach, lime and mint, alongside cocktails such as Love Potion Martini, French Kiss, Leucosia, Livin’ Easy and Oaxacan Sour. It is another piece of La Favorita’s philosophy: creating different spaces within the same property, each designed to suit a different moment of the day without losing a recognisable stylistic coherence.
Gastronomy as Part of the Hotel’s Identity
The table naturally represents one of the most important chapters in this family story. The property’s gastronomic offering is overseen by Executive Chef Domenico Iavarone, who is responsible for the overall culinary programme, from breakfast and banquets to the rooftop and Ristorante Zest. Today, Zest represents the most contemporary expression of La Favorita’s dining scene, interpreting Campania’s ingredients through a more modern sensibility.
Alongside this offering, however, the family maintains a strong connection with its culinary heritage, which finds its fullest expression at O’ Parrucchiano, the historic restaurant founded in 1868. This dual gastronomic identity allows the Manniello family to tell the story of Sorrento from different perspectives: on one side, the cuisine of memory; on the other, a more contemporary interpretation of the same roots. What brings the two together are the ingredients, Campania’s culinary culture and a direct connection with the local area.
Within La Favorita, there is also a signature wine cellar featuring around 450 Italian and international labels, from Italy’s major appellations to Burgundy, with a selection designed to create dedicated pairings with local specialities. The offering is complemented by gastronomic experiences centred on mozzarella, olive oil and limoncello, as well as gelato tours. Cuisine thus becomes one of the keys through which to understand the hotel as a whole. The local area does not remain confined to the panorama visible from the terraces, but finds its way into the glasses, the recipes, the fragrances of the garden and the rituals of the table.
A Grand Sorrento Home
Ultimately, La Favorita retains a quality found in properties born from an authentic family history: the ability to make guests feel the passage of time without turning it into a stage set. The ceramics tell the story of local craftsmanship, the furniture preserves a more domestic sensibility, the citrus trees constantly evoke Sorrento’s culinary heritage, while the terraces and contemporary offering open the project up to a more international dimension.
The Manniello family has built this journey while maintaining a constant connection with everything that came before. Restaurant culture gave rise to the experience of hospitality; hospitality expanded that same idea of home until it became a hotel; and today, the hotel continues to draw on Sorrento’s culinary, artistic and landscape heritage.
And it is precisely this family dimension that gives La Favorita its distinctive personality. Not that of a property simply seeking to represent the Amalfi Coast, but of a home that, over the course of generations, has learned to welcome the world without ever ceasing to belong to its own territory.
Grand Hotel La Favorita
Via Torquato Tasso, 61, 80067 Sorrento NA
Telephone: 081 878 2031
