Ischia is one of those places that, if you’ve been, you tend to keep to yourself. After all, part of its charm, besides its low-key vibe and lack of American tourists, is waking up to a view like this of the Tyrrhenian Sea from the Mezzatorre Resort & Spa. “It’s the anti-Capri,” says Michael Williams, founder of the men’s style site A Continuous Lean, of the island, a 17-square-mile speck in the Gulf of Naples.
“There’s no scene, no Gucci stores.” While Ischia has flown largely under the radar for Americans—with the exception of its recent cameo in the wildly popular Elena Ferrante quartet—Williams was tipped off when he asked a friend for recommendations in Sicily. “He said, ‘Go to Ischia instead and stay at Mezzatorre,’ so I did, and that’s what I’ve done for the past seven years.” Besides lounging seaside or soaking in a thermal bath (the volcanic island is covered in them), there’s really not much to do. “You read by the sea, have a great seafood lunch at the hotel, then hop a cab into town for sunset and a fantastic dinner.” Here’s how Williams masters the art of doing (almost) nothing.
