On the morning we speak, in late April, Francesco Sersale – scion of the family that has run Le Sirenuse hotel forever – is about to hop on his Vespa and pootle around the switchback coastal roads that lead from Positano to Nerano. In a couple of hours, the clan’s newest venture, a beach club called simply Le Sirenuse Mare, will open its doors to guests for the first time.
“I’m excited,” he says. “But we are starting slowly, very intentionally letting the reservations just trickle in.”
Here, good things take time. Le Sirenuse was first opened in 1951 by four Sersale siblings from Naples – Aldo, Paolo, Anna and Franco – who carefully transformed their family’s coastal home, high up above the waters of the bay, into a hotel during the summer months. Franco’s son, Antonio, now runs it with his wife, Carla, and their sons, Francesco and Aldo. In an age of corporate owners and luxury conglomerates, Le Sirenuse is singular. It is synonymous with Positano, which is itself synonymous with la dolce vita.
“We’ve always searched for a way to give our guests something beachside, too,” says Francesco. One day a couple of years ago, the family were having lunch at Lo Scoglio, perhaps the most famous restaurant in Nerano, which sits on a handsome pontoon out across the sea. “And our dad said, ‘You know, a friend of mine wants us to go check out this property,’” he remembers.
That something is now Le Sirenuse Mare, an unexpected sliver of Le Sirenuse that rises steeply from the blue water up three graceful tiers – whitewashed accents set against the dove-grey stone; splashes of signature turquoise glossed by sunlight. It is serene, which is not the same as sleepy. There is a sense of possibility and play here; a twinkle in the eyes of the waiters. “We're going to be really focused on making sure people have a really good lunch,” Francesco says. “That's just our duty.”
The food, overseen by chef Francesco di Simone, who hails from Sorma Visiliana near Naples, is “in the proper family style”, according to Francesco. “Very down to earth, unpretentious food that you would eat in the house of your grandma. A focus on traditional techniques and really, really good produce.”
The Amalfi coast, and perhaps Positano in particular, has been a victim of its own allure in recent decades. The ferries land at the dock at regular intervals, and the old stone steps seem to groan under the bustling crowds. “But Le Sirenuse Mare was not built in reaction to that.” Instead, it is simply “another destination for our guests to experience Le Sirenuse in the Bay of Nerano, which is just so charming – a throwback to what it was like here in the 1970s and 1980s”, Francesco says.
“That era represented an elegance. Something that is sacred to us, and something that has been transmitted to each of our staff, who are proud and love what they do, and have a style of service which is a throwback to the old world that I think people feel when they come to us, wherever we are.”
This article originally appeared in issue 4 of the Broadsheet London magazine. Find a copy here.
