The Place
This unique, stylish hotel was the creation of Myriam Beltrami and Paolo Tilche, who came to the alluring, car-less little island of Panarea in the 1960s, were enthralled and never left. The Raya consists of a cascade of pink and white bungalows, linked by arches and whitewashed steps, tumbling down the hillside through a Mediterranean garden to the sea. At every level bougainvillea-shaded terraces for dining, sunbathing or attached to bedrooms look out to the uninhabited Lipari islands with the threatening vision of the volcano, Stromboli, in the distance.