Splendido offers serenity and drama as the eye can see: serenity from its tranquil hilltop location surrounded by lush terraced gardens on a steep hillside, and drama from its panoramic views of Portofino Bay and location just a short walk from the ultra-chic village where people-watching is a common pastime (some of the Mediterranean's largest superyachts are regularly docked here).
The site was originally a Benedictine monastery, but after repeated plundering by pirates, the monks abandoned it in the 16th century and it fell into disrepair. In 1901, Ruggero Valentini, who is considered by many to be the pioneer of Portofino's tourism industry, purchased the place and turned it into a hotel that attracted celebrities such as Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Ava Gardner. Elizabeth Taylor's favorite dish, spaghetti pomodoro, with tomatoes of three different textures, is still on the menu today.
Now owned by Belmond Hotels, the Splendid continues to be one of the most popular tourist destinations, with the likes of George Clooney, Steven Spielberg, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Beyonce and Naomi Campbell enjoying stays at the Splendid.
Martin Brudnicki, founder of Martin Brudnicki Design Studio, whose previous designs include Hôtel Barrière Fouquet in New York and Austrian alpine resort Six Senses Kitzbuehel, led the hotel's multi-phase renovation in 2023. Brudnicki's color sense is nowhere more apparent than in Splendid's spacious, '70s-inspired saltwater pool, which is covered in tiles that evoke the bay beyond, lined with terracotta-colored umbrellas, and topped with cotton-candy pink piping on chairs striped in ocean-like green and white.
