Ciao! I'm Laura.
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Ciao Amalfi

About

A little bit about Laura

Ciao! I’m Laura, a writer, art historian, and photographer. I live on the Amalfi Coast, and I’m passionate about sharing an insider view of my home to help travelers discover and enjoy the most beautiful experiences on the Amalfi Coast.

The road to expat life in Italy for me was as twisty as the Amalfi Coast road. I was born right smack in the middle of America. Although I’ve had many adventures in my life, none was as big as moving to Italy. Fourteen years ago, I visited the Amalfi Coast and fell in love immediately – with the natural beauty … and my tour guide! I’m now married to that tour guide and a proud dual American and Italian citizen.

Ever since I set foot on the Amalfi Coast, I’ve been exploring every nook, cranny, and ancient stone pathway. I love my home and am passionate about sharing the beauty of the Amalfi Coast through my writing and photography.

I’ve shared all my local tips and more in Moon Amalfi Coast: with Capri, Naples & Pompeii published by Moon Travel Guides. Watch for the second edition and Moon Southern Italy coming soon!

About Ciao Amalfi

Ciao Amalfi started its journey as a personal blog for me to share my new life in Italy with family and friends. What I quickly discovered, however, is that there are many people around the world who love the Amalfi Coast just as much as me. Perhaps that’s you, too! Travelers come from across the globe to visit this very special place. And it is a place that bites deep, as John Steinbeck described Positano back in the 1950s. Once you’ve been bitten by the Amalfi Coast bug, it’s hard to recover.

That’s where Ciao Amalfi comes in! This website has transformed over the years to reflect my experiences living on the Amalfi Coast. From a personal blog it has become a trusted source of insider travel tips and a view into daily life. Here you’ll find inspiration for planning your holiday on the Amalfi Coast and beautiful moments throughout the year to keep you dreaming until you can return!

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The Ciao Amalfi Newsletter

Need a little bit of Amalfi Coast sunshine and beauty delivered to your inbox? That’s surely better than yet another work email! The Ciao Amalfi Newsletter brings the best of the Amalfi Coast right to your email in monthly doses of insider travel tips, local experiences and more. Be the first to find out about upcoming events, new openings and all there is to see and do.

The Ciao Amalfi Newsletter is also the place to sign up to be the first to hear about new Amalfi Coast book and photography projects I have in the works. If you love the Amalfi Coast and believe there’s no such thing as too much Amalfi Coast, this is the newsletter for you!

Find out more and sign up for the Ciao Amalfi Newsletter here.

Can’t Get Enough of the Amalfi Coast?

I know how you feel! If you need a daily dose of Amalfi Coast beauty, you’ll find me online posting regular updates via Ciao Amalfi on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Please do comment and share since I enjoy hearing about what you love about the Amalfi Coast and your favorite travel memories!

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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

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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. 💜
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