Now the building’s façade has been beautifully restored, complete with its trompe l’oeil frescoes. The hotel’s exquisite and immaculately tended gardens run up the hill at the back of the property. A delightful view of them blessed my air-conditioned room, number 209, a ‘Double Garden View with Balcony’. This was a blissfully quiet chamber. (You should be aware that the road at the front of the building can be busy at certain times of the day.) I liked its crystal chandelier, parquet floor and striped wallpaper and, although it was not large, its careful arrangement (with fitted wardrobes and a wall-mounted television) made it feel quite spacious. Spotlights in the bathroom shone down on walls of grey-veined marble, a bath with a shower over, a bidet, a loo, one wash basin and an abundance of large white towels. It was most pleasant to sit on my private balcony and listen to the song of the birds happy to have found such comfortable surroundings.

Breakfast was on the terrace of the hotel’s Vistamare Restaurant - a dining room well named, for its views of the sea and the Ligurian coast are enchanting. With the sun glinting on the distant waves, and its rays kept safely behind the overhead shade, I found I could think of few more delightful places for tucking into the day’s most important meal. And tuck in I did, because the fare on the breakfast buffet was first class: slices of coconut cake, bowls of prosciutto and melon, dishes of pineapple and kiwi, plates of bacon, sausages and mushrooms, slices of crusty bread, pots of marmalade - all tip-top. And best of all were the croissants specially warmed for me, washed down with pots of proper coffee brought by the helpful waiters.