One of the many delights of our recent stay in Italy was the wonderful boutique hotel, Maison Tofani (http://www.maisontofani.com/en/), at Via San Cesareo 34, in the heart of Sorrento’s historic district. It was terrific in every aspect - comfort, ambience, staff, location, breakfast buffet, and resident kitty cat. As always, I made my selection based on TripAdvisor reviews, and, as usual, was delighted with the results.
I have to start with praise of the gracious owner, Maria, because it is she who sets the tone by hiring such wonderful staff and by setting the high standards which are reflected in every aspect of the hotel’s operation. Secondly, I have to praise Giovanni Fiorentino, the Guest Relations Manager. He epitomizes the best in hotel management. His colleague Diletta was very responsive to my email correspondence.
We had two rooms, both of which came with breakfast:
1. A double deluxe room with Jacuzzi shower and a small balcony, overlooking Via San Cesareo, which I consider the main tourist shopping street in the historic part of Sorrento. This room cost €209 ($261) per night. The bed in this room, which was shared by my grandson and me, was incredibly comfortable. We both wanted to take it home.
2. A double loft room with a terrace that had a view of part of Mt. Vesuvius. This room cost €179 ($224).
The breakfast buffet was incredible with a wide assortment of terrific pastries and fruits, eggs, meats, cheeses, juices, preserves, coffees and teas to order, etc. On one morning, I counted at least 16 types of beautiful pastries. The fruits included both fresh and canned fruits. One morning’s fresh fruits included melons, watermelon, cherries, pears, plums, oranges, strawberries, kiwis, grapes, pineapple, and bananas. Most of the fresh fruits and eggs came from a property owned by Signora Maria and located a short distance away.
The pictures below give some small sense of part of this terrific breakfast.
Breakfast Pastries
Some of the Breakfast Fruits
The breakfast room is a large, elegant, high-ceilinged room with a striking ceiling mural. Vita, the young woman responsible for breakfast, was extremely efficient and helpful, with a heart-warming smile.
Every morning at breakfast, Signora Maria was in attendance as the perfect host. I had several interesting conversations with her.
There is no better way to start a day than breakfast at Maison Tofani.
The hotel has a beautiful roof terrace with tables, chairs, and lounges chairs. It offers views of Mt. Vesuvius, the nearby hills, and the rooftops of Sorrento.
Vesuvius from the Rooftop Terrace
The hotel owns three nearby restaurants - L’Abate, La Lanterna, and Dolce & Gelato Sorrento. We had a nice meal at L’Abate. My wife and I had also had a nice meal there 5 years earlier. I will describe our meal at L’Abate in a later posting.
The hotel offers many other services too numerous to list. Check out its web site for additional information.
We departed from Sorrento by rental car and could not drive the car on narrow Via San Cesareo, where Maison Tofani is located. However, Giovanni advised me to drive the car to nearby Piazza Sant’Antonino. He then arranged for Luigi, a member of the hotel staff to bring the luggage to the piazza and load it into our car. Giovanni’s suggestion and arrangement worked out perfectly.
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