HG Openhouse Blog

Ravello’s famous Villa Cimbrone gardens.

South of Naples is a land of amazing vistas–deep blue Mediterranean, rocky outcroppings down into the sea, acres of lemon trees, historic gardens combining statuary and greenery, islands like Capri just off the coastline. This is the Amalfi Coast, home to such towns as Ravello, Positano, Sorrento, Salerno.

Historic and famed, the Amalfi coast sits just south of Pompeii, with miles of coastline that are a challenge to drivers with its hairpin turns and sheer drops into the sea. With its mild climate and strong sun, the Italians have long loved gardening. You can even see remnants of early gardens at Pompeii’s excavations. The Amalfi Coast has many famous and picturesque gardens–and you can bring some of that into your garden as well. Key elements? Statuary, of course! Every Italian garden combines Roman deities with plants. Today, these statues can be made of marble, cement, fiberglass, resin–almost anything. Some will weather in our climates better than others. Other critical elements are pottery to hold your smaller plants, urns for larger ones, some armilaries for height and a combination of evergreens and other plant material for variety and varied color. Your garden can even be on a deck or a balcony 20 floors up.

Statuary and greenery combine in an Italian-inspired garden.

The Italians have long been masters of ceramic technology and design. And to evoke Amalfi coast memories, what could be more perfect that a small repast on hand-painted dinnerware and serving pieces? Some well chilled Italian vino is an important part of the celebration, of course. We’ve selected a collection of ceramics in blue and cream that includes dinnerware and large scale serving pieces to hold our biscotti and arancia. Blue wine goblets are actually plastic, so no fear if a guest gets a little tipsy and drops his cup! Blue and white dishtowels are perfect summer outdoor napkins–big enough to cover your entire lap. And why not use a miniature evergreen topiary as a centerpiece?

Colorful ceramics with an Italian summer snack.

Our fabric and paint chip board for the Amalfi Coast focuses on linen, long used by the Italians as an element in weaving and printing. The colors we’ve focused on are mid-tone, perhaps a bit faded by that strong Italian sun. Soft greens combine with tan, lighter blues pair up with cream and brown in an historic scenic showing Italian maidens on the shore. Simple stripes are frequently used combined with larger patterns. These stripes can be of varied scales. Nubby textures add tactile interest to any Italian decorating scheme.

Linen used in Italian scenics and florals with a Renaissance theme.

So now that we’ve got the blue Mediterranean in our thoughts, let’s journey on to the Greek Islands!