Masa Villas was conceptually born when a Salerno family of engineers, architects, and builders began to frequent Praiano in the 1960s and fell in love with it.
Those were the years when Praiano and the Amalfi Coast were the center of the world in the vibrant and magical atmosphere of the Africana, the nightclub born from the belly of the mountain and Luca Milano's visionary spirit, and that resounded to the rhythm of tribal and ethnic dances, infusing freedom and joie de vivre to local and international guests, including Frank Sinatra, Jacqueline Kennedy, Gore Vidal, and Nureyev, to name but a few.
Once the dancing years were over, towards the end of the 1990s, the family bought the ruined part of a late 18th-century complex, which had been renovated and enlarged over the centuries and belonged to one of Praiano's historical families. This is how Masa Villa took shape.
With their profound understanding of architecture and art, the family breathed new life into the complex, preserving the original layout that is characteristic of the coastal and Neapolitan tradition. The villa boasts Arab arches, 18th-century Neapolitan terracotta, motifs reminiscent of the cloister of Santa Chiara, and Vietri ceramics by Giancappetti, Lucio Liguori, Lucio Ronca and Sandro Mautone.
With its expansive windows that flood every corner of the house with light and its gardens that exude an old-world charm, Masa Villa offers an ideal setting to be inspired and captivated by the beauty of a place nestled in the bountiful abundance of nature, stretching out into the vastness of the sea.
«For me and my parents, coming to Praiano has always meant slowing down, listening to the night, the murmur of boats returning from the sea, breathing in wisteria or citrus fruits. It also means reconnecting with a place and its inhabitants when you walk down Via Masa and meet a Praianeseyou don't know but with whom you can exchange a greeting or a joke. Once you discover Praiano, you always return because it lets you get back in touch with simplicity, which is all we need.
Here, for us, this villa represents all this, a dream always of rebirth, of regeneration. This was and still is my parents' desire to share with foreign friends and artists.»