La Rondinaia — the Swallow's Nest — is a villa on the cliff below Villa Cimbrone that was the Amalfi Coast home of the American novelist and essayist Gore Vidal for over thirty years. He moved there in 1972 and used it as a writing retreat until 2003, entertaining a stream of writers, politicians, and celebrities. He wrote several of his novels here, including Creation and Lincoln. The house is now privately owned and not open to visitors, but the name and setting are part of Ravello's literary mythology.
The villa is visible from the cliff paths below Ravello — a white cube perched vertiginously on the rock face, surrounded by trees. Vidal himself described the view from his terrace as one of the finest he had seen anywhere in the world, which from a man who lived on several continents was not nothing.