B&B Cerasiello

Cerasiello was idyllic. Like almost everything in Naples, its rough exterior belies what you’ll find inside. You enter through a tiny door in battered, ancient gates set in a massive, near featureless building that takes up a whole city block. You find yourself in a courtyard, sky visible four very tall stories above. It’s all a bit dingy and the first thing you’ll notice is the rather ugly lift dropped into the middle of the far side of the courtyard, looking like those temporary ones they erect on construction sites. As your eyes adjust to the half light, however, you’ll notice that all four stories of the wall behind the lift are dominated by a grand staircase, crumbling but still magnificent. Before the neighbourhood went into decline ... from which it's now trending upwards ... it was full of grand palaces, and this was one of them. Once the heavy courtyard door shuts, the noise of the street disappears and the songbirds kept by residents overlooking the courtyard contribute a gentler soundtrack. Potted plants and hanging laundry jostle for space on windows, walls and landings. Cerasiello is on the top floor. I was very glad of that lift, even though you need to feed it €.20 a ride. The property has four bedrooms, each with en-suite bathroom, surrounding a long sitting room, a small kitchen and a truly magnificent roof garden with a view of Vesuvius. We spent most of our time at home out here, surrounded by enormous potted plants that made it feel like a real oasis from the city. The tasteful decor is a mash-up of traditional Italian with a bit of Sicilian and North African, giving the whole place a slightly exotic feel. The owners have taken great care with the lighting, including up lighters on the roof garden and small, stained glass table lamps inside to create atmospheric puddles of light throughout. This was our annual girls' trip and we always look for a property with four bedrooms so we can each have our own space. This was ideal, and one of the best properties we've rented over the years. You can book individual rooms rather than renting the whole property; in which case the living room, kitchen and roof garden become shared space with other guests. If you only rented one room, ask for the one with french doors that open directly to the roof garden. The window in the bedroom looks towards Vesuvius, while the one in the bathroom looks over the roofs and church domes of Rione Sanità and up at Castel Sant’Elmo. Cerasiello is on the very edge of Rione Sanità, only about 200 metres from the Via Foria that divides the neighbourhood from the historic centre. You’re only 10-15 minutes away from key sites like the archaeological museum, the Duomo, the cloisters at Santa Chiara and the street of the nativity scene makers. You’re also close to two different metro stations, though I confess that with four of us to split the cost we took taxis when we needed to go further than our feet would carry us. Our roof garden and the feeling of being part of a local neighbourhood provided a welcome counterpoint to the noise and bustle of the city.