Top of the World
Surrounded by a marvelous park, adorned with statues, various antiquities, fountains, grottos and culminating in a belvedere that shows, especially from the famous Terrace of Infinity, scenery of incomparable beauty over the Gulf of Salerno and the neighboring coastal towns. The place name "Cimbrone" recalls the ancient name of the rocky promontory Cimbronium on which stood the ruins of a Roman villa, later transformed into a large farmhouse and once the residence first of the noble Acconciagioco family and later of the Fusco and Amici families. It was not until 1904 that the entire property was purchased by a British nobleman banker, Ernest William Beckett, who radically transformed both the villa, which had long been in a state of neglect, and the vast land parcel and gardens into the extraordinary park with neoclassical and gothic architectural elements and mediating between the wild English botanical style and the precise Italian style. In the 1990s the villa was restored according to a design by Giuseppe Del Pizzo, Alberto White and Giovanna White.
A 5-star hotel currently stands inside the villa, while the vast garden is open to the public throughout the year and can be visited for a fee. The hotel and its centuries-old park are located in a pedestrian area accessible via a scenic driveway, alternating with stairs.
