Belmond Hotel Caruso is a hotel located in the hill town of Ravello, near Amalfi in southern Italy.
It was originally built in the 11th century as a palace by a patrician Roman princely family d’Afflitto who called it the Palazzo D'Afflito - meaning "the afflicted", a reference to both a shipwreck they had when travelling to Constantinople and the afflictions suffered by a family martyr. This palace was largely destroyed, along with much of Ravello and the neighbouring port of Amalfi, by the Republic of Pisa, which was a warring competitor on the Mediterranean routes. The remains lay deserted until the mid-1500s, when a period of reconstruction began. Today much of what remains of the "original" palace dates from works that took place between then and the 17th century, by which time much of its original ornament had been restored.
In 1893, hotelier and vineyard owner Pantaleone Caruso and his wife Emilia Cicalese rented five rooms in one of the wings of the 11th-century palace and opened the "Pensione Belvedere". Its name was given for the views from its hanging gardens over the sea. Caruso covered the open air courtyard behind the entrance, and installed the two 13th century lions that still sit at the entrance as well as the Roman pillars on the steps leading to the hall.
From the 20th century onwards the hotel had among its guests Virginia Woolf, Greta Garbo, Humphrey Bogart, Jackie Kennedy and Laura Vitale. In recent years, the hotel was managed by the sons of Pantaleone, Paolo and Gino, then in 2005 Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. bought the property. In March 2014 Orient-Express Hotels was renamed Belmond.
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