The Italian Festival on August 14th at the Caruso, Belmond Hotel Amalfi Coast, as told by manager Iolanda Mansi

by Emilia Filocamo

The Festa Italiana on August 14th at the Caruso, Belmond Hotel Amalfi Coast, as told by Iolanda Mansi, General Manager of the property. By Emilia Filocamo

August. Almost halfway. Or the finish line. Summer arrives to take stock, to take stock, to the turning point, is perhaps the most used but also most banal expression. Everywhere, anticipation and the date become a ritual, a need for a liturgy to celebrate it. Day trips, eyes fixed on the stars, dinners, the beach. At the Caruso, at Belmond Hotel Amalfi Coast, tradition becomes community with the Festa Italiana, a format established a few years ago that sees the hotel transform into a village square, like so many from north to south, to host a traditional festival. Lights strung between the trees, stands selling typical products, music, cheerfulness, the gastronomic philosophy of Executive Chef Armando Aristarco adapted to the occasion. Iolanda Mansi, General Manager of the five-star luxury hotel in Ravello, explains the genesis and the reasons for this successful formula.

Director, why move the Ferragosto celebrations forward by a day? We wanted to avoid clashing with events organized at other venues and, in a certain sense, inaugurate the days when celebrating Ferragosto becomes obligatory.

How did the name and idea of the Italian Festival come about? The company's core business is to celebrate and support the genius loci and Italian authenticity. The Caruso, historically and traditionally, is a symbol of hospitality and vacationing, so the idea was to dedicate an evening to socializing and recreating the simple, genuine, and classic atmosphere of traditional Italian parties.

In this circumstance, how does Caruso differentiate itself from other similar initiatives and avoid falling into stereotypes? Let's say that the formula is quite familiar but we are certainly characterised by the fact that we want to "dismantle" for one evening that almost insurmountable sense of a five-star luxury structure and welcome not only guests but also anyone who wishes to spend an elegant evening but with the simplicity, conviviality and colours of a festival or a patronal feast.

Of all the Italian festivals held at the Caruso, which one are you most attached to, perhaps because of a particular episode or memory? What I remember, and what often happens, is that guests who didn't know each other meet during our Festa Italiana and, year after year, they end up together on the same date. We have a great lineup of loyal guests who book just in time for the event and who return as if it were a special occasion, an event not to be missed.

What's the feeling that runs through the Team once the Italian Festival is over? It's definitely a mix of melancholy—it's mid-August, after all, with summer drawing to a close—and satisfaction with the result. And then there's a strong desire to look ahead and already think about the next edition.

In a context where tourism seems to be held hostage by some uninspiring dynamics, threatened by excessive peaks and then worrying plateaus, are these types of initiatives, which make even a five-star luxury facility feel "familiar" and contextualize it more, connecting it to the local area and its customs, a winning strategy? Absolutely, because it's a strategy aimed at promoting a more conscious form of tourism, one that doesn't skim the local area but rather seeks to penetrate it, to learn about its traditions, habits, and rituals.

What was the Caruso Director's best August holiday before becoming an ambassador for five-star luxury hospitality? All the memories I experienced as a teenager when, like everyone else, I was more carefree. This is exactly what we want to recreate for the guests of our Italian Festival.

The interview ends here: we need to think about the menu, the garden lights, the to-do list, the guests. After all, you can't love a place without knowing its history, and history is a bell tower, a column, a Latin inscription, a book with a handwritten dedication, but also a dish, a flavor, a custom that is passed down with care and attention, just like a recipe or an old family album.