Sant’Agnello

 Popular resort just a short walk from Sorrento

The small resort of Sant’Agnello, just outside Sorrento in the direction of Naples, is very popular with visitors. Many holidaymakers like to base themselves there and visit Sorrento during the day, returning to its peaceful atmosphere in the evenings.

You can reach Sant’Agnello from Sorrento by walking along Corso Italia, passing Piazza Lauro and Viale Nizza, until you reach Piazza Sant’Agnello. You will see the yellow-painted façade of the Chiesa Santi Prisco ed Agnello, dedicated to San Prisco, a fifth century bishop from Nocera in Campania, and Sant’Agnello, a sixth century monk from Naples, who is now the patron saint of the town.

Church dedicated to Sant'Agnello's patron saint

You can also reach Sant’Agnello by leaving Sorrento along Via Correale, passing the Museo Correale di Terranova, and turning right along Via Aniello Califano. You pass the Church of Santa Maria della Rotonda and then join Via Bernardino Rota. After you pass the Grand Hotel Cocumella you can descend to the beach of Marinella, where you can hire sun loungers and enjoy the beautiful view over the bay of Naples.

Sant’Agnello was made famous by the American novelist, Francis Marion Crawford, who was born in 1854 in Bagni di Lucca in Tuscany.

A prolific novelist, Crawford became known for the vividness of his characterisations and the realism of his settings, many of which were places he had visited in Italy.

He chose to settle in later life in Sant’Agnello, where he even had a street named after him, Corso Marion Crawford, which is another way to get down to the sea from Corso Italia.

In 1883 Crawford lived at the Hotel Cocumella in Sant’Agnello, the oldest hotel in the Sorrento area. He then bought a farmhouse nearby, from which he developed the Villa Crawford, an impressive clifftop residence that is easily identifiable from the sea.

Crawford died at the Villa Crawford after suffering a heart attack in 1909. The villa, which was donated to a religious order by his descendants, has since been refurbished as a guesthouse.

The Hotel Cocumella, where Crawford stayed during the 1880s, is in Via Cocumella, just off Corso Marion Crawford. Over the centuries it has welcomed writers such as Goethe, Mary Shelley and Hans Christian Anderson, along with many artists, statesmen and noblemen who visited it while they were on the Grand Tour.

Grand Hotel Cocumella Sorrento

Historic hotel has been a haven for writers

The oldest hotel in Sorrento, the Grand Hotel Cocumella at Sant’Agnello, dates back to 1777.

The entrance to the Grand Hotel Cocumella in the Sant'Agnello
district, which is the oldest hotel in Sorrento 

Originally built as a Jesuit monastery in the 16th century, the Cocumella sits right on the edge of a cliff over- looking the bay of Naples and has a stunning view of Vesuvius from its terraces and gardens.

The interior of the five-star hotel reflects its long history, with walnut furniture, old majolica floors, frescoed ceilings and antique mirrors.

Over the centuries it has welcomed writers such as Goethe, Mary Shelley, Hans Christian Anderson and Francis Marion Crawford along with many artists, statesmen and noblemen who visited it while on the Grand Tour.

Jesuit priests lived in the building from 1637 until it became a guesthouse in 1777. It became a hotel in 1822. 

The cloister at the Cocumella, with its central well, has
been turned into a dining room

In 1978, the Cocumella was refurbished by architect Nino di Papa, with the focus on restoring its elegant features and recapturing its peaceful atmosphere.

The antique cloister with a grey stone well in the centre is now a dining room and the old chapel is used for concerts.

The huge gardens have a swimming pool and tennis court and there is a lift down to a private sun deck. The hotel has three restaurants and a cocktail bar that opens on to a terrace overlooking the bay of Naples.

One of the Grand Hotel Cocumella’s unique facilities is Vera, a 30 metre sailboat built in 1880, which is available for guests to charter for excursions to Capri and the Amalfi coast.

The hotel has 48 rooms, all different, which either have a sea view or a view over the gardens or citrus groves.

The hotel has produced its own history, which
includes details of Mary Shelley's stay

The novelist Mary Shelley stayed at the Cocumella in June 1843 with her son Percy Florence Shelley. It was more than 20 years after her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, drowned off the coast of Tuscany.

Since the poet’s death Mary had suffered a hard life bringing up her son alone in London, depending on her writing for economic survival.

Of her stay in Sorrento she wrote: ‘The place is beautiful beyond expression –the weather exactly one’s beau ideal - warm and no heat. I go about on mules in the evening. Sometime we go on the sea.  But alas! we leave this place – too soon- & I plunge again into the shadows and worries of life!’

The Grand Hotel Cocumella is only a 15 minute walk from the centre of Sorrento but has the benefit of a peaceful location in Via Cocumella at Sant’Agnello, a small neighbouring resort.

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