March 23, 2026 (Positano, Italy) – When four Neapolitan siblings embarked on an adventure in 1951, Anna, Aldo, Paolo and Franco Sersale had noticed that visitors from overseas often fell in love with – and in – Positano, the small Italian seaside town on Italy’s Amalfi Coast where they owned a villa. They decided to convert their family home into a small hotel with just eight rooms, called Le Sirenuse.
Novelist and Nobel laureate John Steinbeck came to stay the following year, and in a celebrated essay for Harper’s Bazaar, he wrote: “We went to the Sirenuse, an old family house converted into a first- class hotel, spotless and cool... Every room has its little balcony and looks out over the blue sea to the island of the Sirens from which those ladies sang so sweetly”.
Since then, the acquisition of adjacent properties in the hotel’s has allowed it to expand to 58 rooms, and the Sersale family continues nurture and preserve its unique spirit. Both hotel and home, it is a unique labour of love that each generation curates, embellishes, and holds in stewardship for the next. This year, Le Sirenuse celebrates its 75th anniversary.
Today, Franco Sersale’s son Antonio and his wife Carla make Positano their home during the hotel’s April-October season. Antonio oversees all aspects of the hotel’s management and strategy, while Carla curates Emporio Sirenuse.
Emporio Sirenuse is a fashion and lifestyle brand born in Positano and nurtured by the creative world of Le Sirenuse. Founded by Carla Sersale and guided under the creative direction of Viola Parrocchetti, the label has evolved from the hotel’s intimate boutiques into an independent international brand celebrated for its refined craftsmanship and modern ease.
Rooted in the spirit of the Amalfi Coast yet resonating far beyond it, Emporio Sirenuse translates Mediterranean artistry into contemporary collections distinguished by hand-worked embroideries, ikats, and prints. What began as a sartorial expression of the hotel’s cultural life has grown into a globally recognized fashion house that continues to embody the same values of travel, craftsmanship, and quiet sophistication that define Le Sirenuse, while confidently charting its own path in the wider world of fashion.
One of the guiding intentions behind its evolution is the vision of Franco Sersale, who reshaped the hotel’s aesthetic and spirit between 1990 and his death in 2015. An engineer by training but a traveller and photographer at heart, Franco sought to surround guests with the beauty he admired. His deep attachment to the culture and artisanship of Naples and the Amalfi Coast led him to collaborate with local makers, while his curiosity drew him to auctions across Europe, where he discovered art and objects that gradually became part of the hotel’s identity. Franco’s approach was never about modernising for its own sake, but about creating harmony through contrast. His invitation to architect Gae Aulenti to design the minimalist Spa in 2000 reflects this sensibility. The result was a space that felt both timeless and deeply personal, echoing his elegant and well-travelled eye.
Antonio Sersale has carried this ethos forward with Artists at Le Sirenuse, curated by Silka Rittson Thomas and now in its second decade. The programme invites contemporary artists to create works that converse with the hotel’s history and landscape. To date, thirteen site-specific pieces have been commissioned, including Nicolas Party’s exuberant pool mosaic, Martin Creed’s neon Don’t Worry, and Caroline Bachmann’s painted tondi inspired by the shifting view of the Li Galli islands. What distinguishes Artists at Le Sirenuse is the intention behind every collaboration. These works are conceived to become part of the hotel’s living architecture and to deepen its relationship with art and place. They reflect the Sersale family’s belief that culture is a form of stewardship, one that links generations and ensures that Le Sirenuse remains rooted in its past while remaining open to its future.
It was in 1991 that Franco called his son Antonio back to Positano from a hotel apprenticeship that had taken him around the world. The close working relationship between Antonio and his father is mirrored today by the working rapport between Antonio, Carla and their two sons Aldo and Francesco, who joined the family business in 2020.
A perfect example of the collaboration between the first and second generation of Sersales is Franco’s, the streetside bar a short stroll from Le Sirenuse that is today one of Positano’s most sought-after aperitivo and nightcap venues. The conversion of what was once a staff car park into a panoramic, art- filled raft above the Mediterranean with a dedicated cocktail menu was initiated by Franco and completed a few months after he passed away in 2015 by Antonio. Later, Antonio would launch a pre- season wellness and yoga retreat called Dolce Vitality, inspired by his love of the mountain paths above Positano, that is today overseen by his son Francesco – who also works closely with his mother Carla on the strategic direction of Emporio Sirenuse, and handles the hotel’s marketing and communications. Francesco’s brother Aldo works alongside his father Antonio on the hotel’s day-to-day operations and guest experience. He looks after the hotel’s La Sponda restaurant, headed up by talented local chef Gennaro Russo, as well as Franco’s Bar and the hotel’s informally glamorous raw bar and sharing bistrot, Aldo’s (named, like Aldo himself, after Franco’s elder brother, a famous Positano bon viveur).
During his world travels, Aldo Sersale became captivated by the quiet ritual of the listening bars he encountered in Tokyo — intimate spaces where music is treated with the same reverence as a fine drink. The concept resonated deeply with him, reflecting both his own global sensibility and the Sersale family’s long-standing tradition of bringing international cultural influences into the life of Le Sirenuse. The hotel’s original bar, tucked within a suite of drawing rooms that once formed the heart of the Sersale family villa, felt like the natural home for this idea — discreet, atmospheric, and steeped in history. In the summer of 2024, Aldo’s vision came to life as the Don’t Worry Bar, a speakeasy-style hideaway where classic cocktails are paired with a curated soundscape of Italian and international jazz and pop, played on vinyl by a live DJ and rendered with warm clarity through a state-of-the-art sound system.
Le Sirenuse’s independence from corporate pressures allows it to pursue its passions – one of which is the guardianship of the culture and traditions of the Amalfi Coast. A collection of exquisitely bound and illustrated Le Sirenuse Little Books, published directly by the hotel, includes an ongoing series dedicated to the iconic ingredients of the region. Pomodoro was the first to be distributed to guests in 2022, with Limone following in 2024. This initiative complements a weekly programme of activities that includes excursions along Positano’s mountain paths, tours of the hotel’s lush indoor gardens accompanied by discussions of local plant lore, and leisurely sunset cruises on the Sant’Antonio, the family’s traditional gozzo fishing boat.
As Le Sirenuse approaches its 75th anniversary, the Sersale family continues to take the long view. In keeping with this spirit, April 2026 will see the opening of Le Sirenuse Mare, a new Beach Club conceived as both a destination and a cultural platform. Designed to extend the hotel’s legacy of beauty, craftsmanship and community to the shores of Nerano, it marks the next chapter in the ongoing story of a family that has spent three generations curating the past, embracing the present, and shaping a thoughtful future for the Amalfi Coast.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
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Images Credits:
1. Le Sirenuse’s Pool by Nicolas Party. 2024. Glass mosaic tiles. 18.6x4.65m. Courtesy Nicolas Party and Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich. Milan.
2. Le Sirenuse’s Restaurant, 2023. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann
3. Le Sirenuse, Room 34. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann
4. Don't Worry Music Bar, 2025. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann
4. Franco's Bar, 2023. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse