Ciao! I'm Laura.
  • Journal
  • About
  • Writing
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Journal
  • Books
  • Podcast
  • About
    • Writing
  • Contact

Ciao Amalfi

BOOKS, Capri · January 28, 2009

Dreaming Capri

Capri at sunset, October 2008

I have decided to combat the oppressiveness of the current bad weather by making plans for when the weather improves. I have yet to be to Capri off season, and I have been anxious to see the island during the winter without the crowds of tourists. Unfortunately, that also means missing much of the life that exists as a result of the tourists. Many shops and restaurants are closed this time of year, and you do lose something of the life and activity of the place. Although people may complain about the massive influx of tourists during the summer months, one has to admit that Capri, much like the Amalfi Coast, has changed. The tourists have become part of life here, and I don’t mean that in just an economic way. Yes, tourism is an essential part of the economy here. But life has changed in certain ways to welcome the tourism, or as a result of the tourism, depending on your point of view. This change comes in some good ways and in some bad ways. Yet, there is something lovely about this quiet time of year here on the Amalfi Coast. I liken it to when the leaves fall off the trees in autumn and you see new views that you missed all summer. When all the clutter of the tourism and all that goes along with it disappears, what you are left with is the underlying life of this place. It is there year round, but it is simply easier to see now. To see life the way it is lived in all its small ways. This is what I want to see on Capri.

Amazon.com

Today I have started reading Capri and No Longer Capri by Raffaele La Capria, which has been on my “soon to be read” list for too long now. La Capria is a well-known Italian writer from Naples, and this book is a interesting blend of a memoir, travel book, novel, and history lesson of Capri. The opening of the book captures his style of writing:

“If you do not dream the world before you see it, then you cannot see it.” It is the same with Capri: you cannot see it unless you have first dreamed it. Only in this way can it appear before you as the mythical place where Nature first encountered Beauty, as the purest image of the sea that was once the cradle of the gods, as that island from which Ulysses heard the Sirens’ song.

And so I have begun dreaming Capri in preparation for seeing it when the weather improves. I have also been reading a book called Capri Blossoming by Tullia Rizzotti, which I picked up last autumn at the little bookshop at the Villa San Michele in Anacapri. It is a great resource with beautiful illustrations, and I love how it is organized into chapters of botanical walks. Since I am on the topic of books, I wanted to point out that I added a gadget froom Goodreads over on the left showing my “Currently Reading” bookshelf. It is a website I have just started to use, but I hope to have time to keep it up in the future. I have my fingers crossed that the weather will improve later this week or the weekend for a day trip to Capri!

Posted In: BOOKS, Capri

You’ll Also Love

Tempting Tuesday: Touring Around Capri by Boat
Tempting Tuesday: The Certosa di San Giacomo in Capri
Tempting Tuesday: Think Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Comments

  1. Scintilla @ Bell'Avventura says

    February 13, 2009 at 13:19

    I read the book when it first came out.
    Capri disappoints me so much in summer with the hives of tourists swarming everywhere and the retailers milking every cent off them that the next time I go will have to be very off season. Even in May it is packed with people!

    Reply
  2. Laura says

    February 14, 2009 at 19:10

    Ciao Scintilla! Thanks for your comment. I enjoyed La Capria’s book, but found it a bit excessive in its negativity. Granted that I don’t have the perspective of time and seeing the change over the course of La Capria’s generation, but I personally tend to fall into the “Let’s try to be positive and fix the problems” attitude. Plus, I feel like he doesn’t acknowledge the importance of tourism to the Amalfi Coast and Capri. Yes, it brings crowds and pollution, but so much of the economy is based on it that I just don’t see how one can wish it away at this point. I would love to hear your perspective as I know the intensity of tourists in Positano is so high. It must really change life there at different times of the year. Thanks for reminding me of this book. I have been meaning to post my thoughts of it on the blog, and you have just inspired me to get that done.

    I still haven’t made it to Capri in the off season, but I am looking forward to it. Yes, the swarms of people are awful there. You might want to get to Capri before Easter to beat the crowds. I have to admit that I have a slightly romantic and biased approach to Capri since my current relationship started there. 🙂 So, despite the swarms of people, I tend to be ridiculously happy when I am there! But I still am curious to see the island without all the swarms of people. I like Positano in the winter for the same reason.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Next Post >

Amalfi in Graffiti

Ciao!

My name is Laura and the Amalfi Coast is my passion and my home. I’m a writer and photographer who is endlessly inspired by the incredible beauty of the Amalfi Coast. Welcome to Ciao Amalfi!

Ciao Amalfi

  • Journal
  • Moon Amalfi Coast
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

Amalfi Coast

  • Amalfi
  • Positano
  • Ravello
  • Amalfi Coast

Explore

  • Travel
  • History & Culture
  • Food & Drink
  • Shopping

Laura Thayer

  • About
  • Writing
  • Book Reviews
  • Work with Me

Latest on Instagram

Celebrating Independent Bookstore Day with a newsl Celebrating Independent Bookstore Day with a newsletter inspired in part by this beautiful song by @samantha_whates & @mgboultermusic. While I could never decide on just seven bookshops for my whole life, I’m sharing about seven remarkable indie bookshops I visited earlier this month in Bath and London. The link is in my bio, but swipe through the photos here for a look inside - each bookshop is tagged if they’re on Instagram. But definitely give them all a follow: 
@persephonebooks 
@mrbsemporium 
@toppingsbath 
@sherlockandpages 
@huntingravenbooks 
@hatchardspiccadilly 
@lrbbookshop 

Long live the independent bookshops! 📚
Thanks Amalfi … I needed a little reminder of th Thanks Amalfi … I needed a little reminder of that this morning. 🩶
Magic to watch the reflections dancing on the wate Magic to watch the reflections dancing on the water. Magic when they’re frozen in time. Just so much magic all around. I could spend a long time in moments like these. ✨
While it’s been a beautiful Easter Sunday in Ama While it’s been a beautiful Easter Sunday in Amalfi, I’m still processing all of the incredible experiences from my trip to England last week. And, thanks to “Square Haunting” by @francescawade, I am still very much haunting the streets and squares of London. Her book opens with this marvelous quotation from Virginia Woolf’s diary written 100 years ago today on April 20, 1925 (photo 1). It captures just what it felt like I was doing days ago - including a saunter through Bloomsbury Square (photo 2). Diving into this book over the weekend has felt like I’ve been able to linger even longer in those rare April days of spring blooms and blue skies in London. 

This book caught my eye immediately at the ever so charming @sherlockandpages in Frome (photos 4 & 5). How could it not when it was surrounded my one of my all time favorite books (“Letters to Camondo” by @edmunddewaal) and one of the best books I read last year (“All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me” by @patrickbringley)?

Hope that your Easter weekend has been a lovely one - with a little bit of “street sauntering & square haunting” wherever you may be!
Just had an unforgettable spring day visiting the Just had an unforgettable spring day visiting the Jane Austen House in Chawton as an early birthday present for myself.(Quite a bit early as it’s not until June.) But earlier this year I decided to have a Jane Austen theme for the year, especially since 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth in 1775. I do love a theme! Seeing the place where she wrote all of her novels, her tiny twelve-sided writing table, a quilt she made, and sitting in the garden listening to the birds sing is altogether something I’ll never forget. ✍️
Watching the colors of the sea and the fish swimmi Watching the colors of the sea and the fish swimming and thinking of the deep connections of old friends. And this poem by Mary Oliver. Hold tight to the friends who always find a way to say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment.

Mysteries, Yes 
— by Mary Oliver

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds will
never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.
Mary Oliver wrote in a poem that “happiness isn’t a town on a map.” But when the little bit of wisteria blooms in Amalfi, I’m not so sure. 💜
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Disclosure

Copyright © 2025 Ciao Amalfi · Theme by 17th Avenue