The Residences

Palazzo Zingone

Palazzo Zingone is the residence of Vivi and Salvatore Zingone, wide open on the sea like a beautiful sunny day full of sun.

Purchased by the Zingone family in the second half of the 19th century, it is among the oldest buildings in Praiano. It is, in fact, part of an eighteenth-century historic residence, the period to which the precious frescoes that dot the rooms date back, with a central body whose nave shape suggests that it had been initially a church.

«My mother was very attached to this house because it was the place of our childhood and memories. It was the house where my father grew up, but also my grandfather. She started restoring the house and took care of it,» - says Vivi.

Over time, Palazzo Zingone was used for breeding silkworms and then became the residence of a Portuguese navy admiral, Franco, which is why the older people from Praiano still know the palace today as Casa Franco.

«According to the stories of the grandmother and the written sources found by the grandfather, silkworms were bred in the palace during the Bourbon and pre-Bourbon period. In fact, Praiano was part of the silk roads: some Praianese moved to Agerola to learn this art and then moved to Naples. Praiano had a perfect microclimate for farming, and so did this house. There were mulberry trees when we were kids. I remember that after the harvest, we made jam».

Then, immediately after the Second World War, Vivi and Salvatore's grandmother began hosting young students from Austria to enjoy Praiano's warm and cool climate, thus transforming the residence into the first accommodation facility in the village.

Today, as in the past, the area surrounding the building is a riot of terraces and gardens overlooking the sea, and where there used to be mulberry trees, today, there are lemon, orange, fig, apricot trees, and a multitude of plants and herbs including mint, wild fennel, and rosemary.

And it is on one of these terraces, every year, Vivi gives life to Namaste, the widespread festival of yoga and meditation on the Amalfi coast, a greeting to the sun as it falls behind the island of Li Galli and Positano.