The Hottest Reservation on the Amalfi Coast This Summer

A long-awaited opening from the family behind Le Sirenuse in Positano brings effortless glamour to Nerano — without disturbing the quiet magic that has made this corner of the Amalfi Coast beloved for generations.

Regular readers of Fathom (and frankly anyone who talks to me about my travels) will know how much I love the Amalfi Coast and Nerano in particular. Every year for the past twenty, I have spent at least two weeks in this small bay in one of the few rooms at Lo Scoglio, the restaurant that deserves its reputation as the best on the coast. For all its considerable and increasing fame, Lo Scoglio maintains a relaxed, old-school, family vibe, and the surrounding pebble beach and even the town, if you can call one piazza a “town,” is the opposite of bling. To say that I feel protective of Nerano would be an understatement. This is my happy place, and I don’t want it to lose its understated sparkle. So you can imagine that news of a glitzy beach club extension of a glamorous Positano hotel opening a five-minute-swim from Lo Scoglio this summer had me worried that disaster was about to strike my beloved bay.

Let me cut to the chase: I had nothing to worry about, because I’m not the only one who feels protective of the Nerano magic. The Sersale family does, too. Antonio and Carla and their sons Aldo and Francesco have made the 25-minute boat journey from their home in Positano to the dock at Lo Scoglio for long, happy lunches with their friends and family for their entire lives. I trace my own friendship with them back to these lunches. Antonio’s father, Franco, was married in the tiny church on the beach, back when Nerano was even tinier and sleepier. The Sersale roots run very deep here. And their new beach club, Le Sirenuse Mare — a five-year labor of love created deliberately, slowly, and stylishly — is a wonderful addition not only to Nerano and their glorious Positano hotel, Le Sirenuse, but also to the whole happy Amalfi Coast summertime scene.

The Sersales celebrated the opening of Le Sirenuse Mare in high style, inviting a few hundred guests, including myself and my husband, to spend an early May weekend at Le Sirenuse, inaugurating Le Sirenuse Mare at a seated dinner on Friday night, hosting a lively Positano beach day on Saturday, and toasting Le Sirenuse’s 75th anniversary on Saturday night at a party with a dress code of “black tie, sirens, or sea creatures.”

I don’t think I’ve ever RSVP’d for anything faster.

Because the Sersales are friends and I’m in Nerano every fall, I’ve watched the beach club’s five-year evolution. What I first saw as an empty lot has been transformed into a cascade of lush, art-filled terraces that flow gracefully from the roadside down to the sea.

Let me set the scene, starting from the road and making my way down to the sea. Three handmade Lantana elephant sculptures, from the charity Elephant Family, stand under fig trees surrounded by rosemary bushes. Dolce Far Niente Bar and Bar Mare share one area, and between them is a sculptural fountain by Giuseppe Ducrot. An outpost of Emporio Sirenuse, Carla’s impossibly chic homewares and fashion boutique for men and women, opens onto the bars. The tables in the 180-seat restaurant are surrounded by plants and climbing vines; the blue and white ceramic plates are painted with swirls and squiggles and circles. The stairs leading down to the waterside sun beds, cabanas, and Rose Bar, are lined with whimsical tiles painted by Alba Clemente and, as Antonio tells me, are designed to look “like loose pieces of paper caught by the wind.” (My favorite shows a headless weightlifter with the inscription “the brain is a muscle too.”) Hanging on the umbrellas that shade every sun bed are two heavy wooden hangers — an elegant touch that will be very appreciated by those who wore their best caftan. There are two jetties — one for arrivals by boat, the other for swimmers. The landscaping throughout is spectacular; this place could easily be called Sirenuse Mare e Giardino.

It would be easy — and wonderful — to spend a full day here. Swimming, sunning, cocktailing, shopping, napping, and, of course, eating. The lunch menu is rich with seafood options — vongole, oysters, calamari — and, naturally, pastas. Nerano is famous for its spaghetti alla Nerano, a dish that was invented here and appears on menus along the coast. Here, chef Francesco De Simone, who worked extensively with Aldo on the menu, updated the dish with linguini and gamberi rossi (red prawns). I ordered this when my husband and I went back for lunch a few days later. It’s delicious.

The wine list opens with seven pages of champagnes. Talk about setting a tone — a tone echoed by the sea breeze, the sun filtering through the pergola, the sound of Sade in the background.

Le Sirenuse Mare will be the most sought-after lunch reservation on the Amalfi Coast this summer. The beach club will be endlessly photographed. And deservedly so.

As for me, I can’t wait to come back on my annual October visit. I’m going to love watching this instant classic settle into the neighborhood.