Il Riccio

The rooms are blue and white, and the terrace hangs over the water, looking east towards Capri and the Sorrento Peninsula. Below it, sunbathing platforms are set into the rocks by the sea.

The restaurant is listed in the Michelin Guide, and in summer it has hosted Dior’s Dioriviera takeover, with striped parasols and a pop-up boutique.

For a celebration, the Plateau Royal of oysters, sea urchins and shellfish is the dish to share. Lunch starts at 12:30 every day, and on Sundays it tends to run on into the late afternoon.

The menu is all seafood. Spaghetti with sea urchin is the dish it is known for; raw fish, red prawn carpaccio and the catch of the day follow. Then visit the Stanza delle Tentazioni, the room of temptations, a tiled room laid with babà, torta caprese, sfogliatelle and delizia al limone.

Il Riccio is on the north-west coast of Capri, about 3.5 kilometres west of Marina Grande. Guests arriving by sea can come ashore at the restaurant by tender, which saves the drive across the island.

It opens from mid-April to mid-October, serving lunch every day and dinner on some evenings. Outside guests are welcome by reservation; the beach club’s sunbeds are offered first to guests of the hotel.