The tower garden at Villa Rufolo

Villa Rufolo opens directly off Ravello's main square, which makes it the most convenient of the town's great gardens. Inside, a thirteenth-century cloister of interlaced Arab-Norman arches leads through to a tower and then out onto a planted terrace that hangs above the coast, the sea filling everything below the horizon.

The two halves of the villa do different jobs. The cloister is enclosed, shaded and architectural — good for portraits at any hour and the reliable option when the sun is high. The terrace is pure view, with formal flower beds in the foreground and the coastline behind; it is at its best in the morning, when the light comes from the east along the shore and the beds are lit rather than backlit. Between May and September the concert stage stands on the lower terrace, cantilevered over the drop, and often blocks part of that view.

Entry is ticketed with fixed hours that close before sunset. Concert days change access substantially — the gardens can close early for rehearsals, and the terrace is off limits during performances — so this is a location to confirm before you build a plan on it. It is step-free from the square to the cloister, which makes at least half of it workable for anyone who cannot manage Ravello's staircases.