Fodor's Expert Review Hotel Palumbo

Editor's Note: This location is reported to be under new ownership and therefore this review may contain inaccuracies.

This is the real deal—the only great hotel left in Ravello that's still a monument to the Grand Tour sensibility that first put the town on the map. Legendarily old-fashioned (originally a 12th-century palazzo), the Palumbo has long welcomed visiting somebodies: Wagner, who composed on the piano in the lobby; Bogart, filming Beat the Devil; a young Jack and Jackie Kennedy; and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Ancient marble columns, mosaic-tile floors, and museum-quality antiques create an elegant ambience, and innovative continental cuisine is served in the gloriously gilded Confalone restaurant.