David Yarrow Summer Holiday Photography

The Grand Hotel Parker’s in Napoli is the city’s oldest luxury hotel dating back to 1870. Its original owner succumbed to gambling issues and, in 1890, it was bought by a regular guest – a British marine biologist called George Parker. Presumably he rather liked the view of the ocean.

Certainly, as hotel views go, Parker’s takes some beating from its balcony oor. There is a perfect outlook to the city, Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples and then, as one’s head turns clockwise to 2 pm, there, in all its splendour, amidst the azure sea, is the fabled island of Capri. We have all seen many contextual photographs of this storied summer paradise, but I had not seen one taken from the mainland at this elevation. I spotted an opportunity.

Alessandra Ambrosio is one of the leading supermodels of her generation and she took to this role at Parker’s with the playful ease that is her hallmark. I thought it would be fun to have her eat pasta. Afterall, we were where we were.

The chefs at Parker’s are lauded and they can make 5-star spaghetti alle vongole blindfold and drunk. That prop was never going to be a challenge. I needed to nd some compositional balance in the frame and, after several iterations, we decided that a sun lounger, set up parallel to Capri 20 miles away in the distance, would work best.

This region of Italy is a very special part of the world. The topography, the islands, the sea, the food, the people and the culture combine to o er the perfect holiday. To not nd it totally intoxicating suggests a lack of some sort of sensibility, either that, or an allergy to pasta and boats. It is the perfect summer holiday.