Experience - The Pinelli - Making Waves

Five reasons to visit the Campania coastline

It's a time-honoured summer favourite, but in case you need reminding, the Amalfi Coast is still one of the most rewarding playgrounds in the Mediterranean. Now you can visit in luxurious comfort onboard our luxurious Pinelli Private Yacht .

Some of the world's coolest yachts are also frequently spotted along the picturesque coastline. Bernard Arnault's Symphony, James Packer's Arctic Pand David Geffen's Rising Sun are a just a few that have visited the iconic destination recently. Find out why you should follow in their footsteps.

One - The restaurants

Of course Pinelli Private Dining can cater for your every need, whether it's a simple dish of pasta or a tasting menu you're after, you'll find it here. but don't leave this coast before you've dined in La Sponda at Le Sirenuse (1 Michelin star), one of the best luxury hotels to visit by motoryacht. This place embodies everything that is great about Italian cuisine: perfectly prepared local ingredients served in the prettiest of dining rooms, by waiters so charming you'll feel like an old friend of the owner. Truly, a slice of la dolce vita.

If you're headed to Capri, Da Paolino, is a must. Within easy walking distance of the Marina Grande this wonderful, family-run Capri favourite - everyone from Tom Cruise to Mimi Rogers and George Hamilton has dined under its citrus-covered canopy - serves meltin-the-mouth Ravioli Caprisi with a tangy lemon sauce so delicious you'll immediately want to rebook.

For a dash of culture set a course for Amalfi's celebrated La Caravella restaurant (1 Michelin star). This is where Andy Warhol hosted his first show in the 1960s (the restaurant opened in '59 and got its star in '66), when the region was an arty, bohemian enclave. Or if you're in the mood for a full tasting menu, The Quattro Passi restaurant (2 Michelin stars), will collect you in the harbour of the tiny port of Nerano whisking you up the hill to the surreal dining room, where you'll be greeted by a giant golden egg and fish heads and tails emerging from the ceiling. It has something of a vagabond reputation.

Though don't be tempted to overlook Naples and if you can arrive by boat and avoid the gridlock, then all the better. The Palazzo Petrucci (1 Michelin star) restaurant, near Marina Molo Luise, on the Villa Donn'Anna beach is a lovely location with views over the beach. Try their appetiser of raw prawns and mozzarella, followed by pasta of ricotta-stuffed paccheri pasta with Neapolitan ragout.

Godere!

Two - The beach clubs

The recently revamped Villa Treville Beach Club in Laurito Bay, Positano is must-visit for a relaxing lunch. Accessible only by boat, the club reopened for lunch last summer after being rescued from destitution by the hotel's new owners. It attracts the hippest Positanese and a smattering of A-list action, with Kevin Spacey and Gwyneth Paltrow both dropping by for lunch and Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet throwing her star-studded 50th birthday party at the venue. This year they are open in the evening too. Tender in - the jetty will take a 20m tender - for a sunset aperitivo and dinner with the spectacular views of Capri and the Ferallon Islands.

Over in Capri fall head-over heels in love with the Capri Palace hotel's Il Riccio Beach Club & Restaurant next to Anacapri's Blue Grotto cave. The setting here is perfect. Arrive in your tender and settle in at the blue-and-white restaurant. After a lunch of delicious seafood overlooking the sparkling Med you can sun yourself in the beach club solarium or take a swim in the blue grotto caves. Alternatively if you are looking for some pampering the hote also has one of the best luxury spas in the Mediterranean.

Another firm favourite is the Fontelina Beach Club. Everybody who comes to Capri's Fontelina agrees that ours is one of the most beautiful beach clubs in Italy. It's also one of the most exclusive: the kind of place where you might easily find yourself sitting in the sun next to a high profile politician or the who's-who of Hollywood. Here, where the waves lap gently against the Faraglioni rocks before breaking on the island's sunny shores, you'll experience the true heart and soul of Capri, and the legend which accompanies it.

Three - The shopping

Jammed with designer boutiques from Prada to Dolce & Gabbana, Capri is a shopper's paradise. And now Bulgari, the coloured gem stone specialist, will bring the shop to your yacht so that you can enjoy a little retail therapy without wasting precious cruising hours. Simply ask your captain to contact the store a week in advance and before you know it you'll be being seduced by one of its signature handmade timepieces or a Serpenti bracelet.

For souvenirs and gifts with a real local flavour, venture to Carthusia – I Profumi Di Capri. This niche perfume house sells ancient floral scents rooted in the history of the island. Every stage of the process is carried out by hand using the same techniques as the Cathusian monks who first made the perfume here. You can see the production process in action at the on-site factory and then amble up to the nearby Gardens of Augustus for stunning views of the famous Faraglioni rocks.

On the mainland then take a look at Salerno, it provides lots of specialty stores that sell wine, confectionary, cheese, decorated Italian paper and stationary for VIP vacationers to take home. If you're in search of well-made leather products to take home then Bottega Bossa is just the place for you to visit. You can find bags, jackets, shoes and other luxury quality leather made items. You will be astonished by the unique designs of this shop.

If heading for Naples you'll find plenty to delight whether it be fine jewellery, cameos, food, clothes or art, check out these venues: Gay Oden the infamous chocolate shop is located at Via Toledo downtown. Keen on antiques? There are two antique shops in Centro Storico that have beautiful old items rather than bric-a-brac. They are very open to bargaining, and you should definitely make an offer for less than the asking price. Via San Gregorio Armeno is infamous for its elaborate Nativity scenes, Naples has a whole industry around the creation of the figurines. Nowhere is this better seen than at via San Gregorio Armeno, which has rows of shops selling figurines of all shapes and sizes, made by local artisans. Finally for foodies, the Pignasecca Food Market in the Montesanto area, blending the smells and colours of fruit, vegetables, and fish.

Four - The views

Top or tail your jaunt around Capri with a leisurely Aperitivo on the terrace at the chic JK Place, Capri, in the Marina Grande. It certainly helps that this brightly elegant waterfront hotel also serves an afternoon tea of pretty puffs of pastry, pink mandolins and chocolate truffles that tastes as delicious as it looks.

Back on the mainland, the best view in Positano comes courtesy of the Oyster and Champagne bar terrace at the Sirenuse. If you tire of gazing across the pastel coloured houses and sparkling tiled dome of Santa Maria Assunta, you can always switch to peoplewatching: this perfectly placed terrace attracts many a gorgeous designer-clad couple with its intimate candlelit setting and resident DJ.

Sorrento, Italy is often called 'Land of the Sirens', and it is said that here on the furthest point of the Sorrentine Peninsula these enchanting creatures once sang sailors to their doom. This legendary Bay of lerano, from the Greek word ieros, or sacred land, is a promontory that juts out into the Mediterranean sea from the fishing village of Nerano almost to the coast of the island of Capri.

If hiking is your early morning thing, then do visit the Bay of Leranto, it is now owned by FAI, Italy's National Heritage Trust, another natural landscape favourite is Tifantini, Castel Morrone, perfect for Mountain Biking too. This is a beautiful trail in the hills just South of Castel Morrone. You'll be surrounded by a bucolic landscape dotted with farms and orchards, hear the tinkling of sheep bells as a shepherd moves his flock and if you're lucky, glimpse birds of prey soaring on the thermals. These peaceful hills also hold two huge geological secrets – the Grande Comola and Piccola Comola – enormous caverns in the karst rock. The walk takes you around both and also offers up gorgeous views of the Castello Marrone and the surrounding hills in the Tifantini chain and beyond.

Five - Historic hideouts

This dramatic coastline offers rich pickings for anyone interested in classical sites – .

So to really appreciate the many treasures why not forgo Amalfi for a while and let The Pinelli show you the beautiful and less crowded Santa Maria di Castellabate, Agnone, Acciaroli and of course Palinuro .

Whatever you're looking for from a private island hideaways that are steeped in intrigue, stunning coastline, romantic coves all can be accommodated in unbridled luxury and the best possible experienced and trained crew on board the Pinelli.

A majestic villa that first belonged to American choreographer Leonide Massine and was later refashioned by Corbusier, before Nuryev bought the property in 1985 for more than 3bn lire, embellishing the décor to resemble a Maharajah palace. Naturally, Nuryev built a helipad and today's guests also have a motorboat and a 35 metre yacht on hand. Greta Garbot, Ingrid Bergman and Jacqueline Kennedy are just a few of the cultural icons who have stayed here.

Marina di Pisciotta is another secret gem, it is the kind of small, southern Italian coastal town that you have a picture of in your head, but often struggle to match in the real world. The old town sits on a hill just back from its seaside frazione or offshoot, Marina di Pisciotta. It's a place of narrow lanes sandwiched between pastel-painted houses, ancient stepped alleyways leading to hidden chapels, small piazzas with their inevitable external fauna of old men in hats playing cards or simply watching the world go by.

Below, between the lower skirts of the town and a sea so clean that the beach regularly features as one of Italy's 'Bandiera Blu' environmentally-virtuous resorts, lie the centuries-old olive groves that give this part of the coast such an archaic Mediterranean feel.

Bella Italia indeed!