La Baroque

La Baroque is a luxury villa rentals in Amalfi Coast.

Looking down upon the captivating town of Positano and its bay, this refined and interesting private palazzo of the 18th century is now a sumptuous luxury vacation villa.



Built as an Episcopal monastery in 1716, during the baroque era, Villa Baroque stands on a rock directly above the bay. Thanks to Positano’s location along the main trading route for spices, silk, and other eastern imports to the continent, many merchants stopped here. They left behind not only works of art but a mix of cultures and traditions, and the villa was enriched by many precious objects from these foreign lands. Its painted ceiling, lacquered doors, inlaid-wood furniture, and stucco work resembling lace were hand-made by the master craftsmen of that time.




Beginning in 1900, Positano became an enclave of artists and writers who were inspired by the charm of the place to come back again and again. Even when the 2nd world war brought privation and poverty to Positano, the Villa retained its magnificence. Edward Ghillausen, a Jewish member of the Bauhaus movement, found refuge in Rome from the growing Nazi menace.

In 1926 Mr. Ghillausen bought this villa, where he lived until he died in 2000 at nearly one hundred years old. He and his wife Eva Maria Vivaldi hosted many famous artists here, including Picasso, John Steibeck, and Alberto Moravia. From 1939 to 1945 they gave refuge to other exiled artists and authors, like the German writer Stefan Andres, whose name was given to the road that leads to the palace.