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TRAVEL · March 24, 2024

A New Season Begins – March 2024

Happy Spring! It's that time of year when shops and restaurants are spiffed up, the ferries start running again, and the bakeries are full of Colomba cakes for Pasqua. That can only mean one thing: a new season has begun! If you're visiting the Amalfi Coast soon, here are a few things happening ...

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TRAVEL · October 23, 2022

Amalfi Coast Autumn Festivals & Events

With mild temperatures and plenty of sunny days, autumn is a beautiful time to visit the Amalfi Coast. Do keep in mind that September is in many ways a continuation of the summer. It's still quite warm and is one of the best months for swimming and enjoying time outdoors. Temperatures do start ...

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HISTORY & CULTURE · August 6, 2022

The Museo della Bussola e del Ducato Marinaro in Amalfi

Walking through the narrow streets of Amalfi, navigating its passageways and staircases, is a journey through time. Especially in the quiet moments, you can almost hear that these old stones speak stories. These are the stories of countless people—yes including you—who have followed these same ...

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LIFESTYLE · November 26, 2020

Steinbeck’s Salty Turkey and Thanksgiving in Amalfi

As an expat, holidays are always a bit different from what they once were. You can recreate traditions, but without the familiar places and, most of all, the familiar faces of family and friends, the holiday can feel quite flat. Of course, there are new families created and friends found, but it's ...

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HISTORY & CULTURE · November 18, 2020

William Kentridge’s “More Sweetly Play the Dance” at the Arsenal of Amalfi

There are few places in Amalfi where the history of the town can be so well felt in its very stones than the Antico Arsenale della Repubblica di Amalfi - the ancient Arsenal of the Republic of Amalfi. Just a few steps from the busy traffic circle Piazza Flavio Gioia, the Arsenal is where Amalfi's ...

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PHOTOGRAPHY · July 12, 2020

Connoisseurs of Blue

Blue wasn't always my favorite color. When I was young, I don't even recall having a favorite color. I wasn't ever particularly good at coming up with an answer to those inane yet popular favorite thing questions kids seem so fond of asking. Over the years, it's more like I've grown into blue. From ...

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LIFESTYLE · March 28, 2020

Thoughts from Amalfi during Coronavirus

Over the past 13 years, I've written a lot about the Amalfi Coast. About beautiful beaches, about my favorite hikes through quiet villages, about food, about the people, and really most everything in between. Plot twist. So here I sit at my tiny desk inside our small house right in the historic ...

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HISTORY & CULTURE · February 4, 2020

Restoration Begins on the Duomo of Amalfi Facade

“It has been said that, at its best, preservation engages the past in a conversation with the present over a mutual concern for the future.”– William Murtagh, first Keeper of the National Register for Historic Places The Duomo of Amalfi is sporting a drastically new look these days. Over the last ...

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TRAVEL · January 12, 2020

Amalfi Coast 2020 Travel Inspiration

Now that the holiday season has wrapped up, it's that time when we start looking ahead at the year to come. If you're planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast in 2020, I've gathered together some special experiences to help with your planning or perhaps even inspire you to book a trip to the Amalfi Coast ...

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HISTORY & CULTURE, SHOPPING · September 3, 2019

Dalla Carta alla Cartolina – A Unique Paper Experience in Amalfi

There's one thing I remember loving for as long as I can remember. Surely you have something like that, right? For me it's paper. There was magic held in the pages of my favorite picture books I read as a little girl. Hours spend folding colorful pieces of paper into impossible origami shapes (with ...

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WRITING · January 6, 2018

My One-Word Theme for 2018: CREATIVITY

For many years now, I've started the new year by choosing one word that encapsulates my goals and intentions for the year ahead. While there are a lot of people out there doing this, I think the idea was inspired some time ago by my friend Michelle over at Bleeding Espresso. I find with my attention ...

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TRAVEL · November 11, 2017

“L’Estate di San Martino” in Amalfi

During breakfast this morning, I heard the weatherman on the TV talking about the "Estate di San Martino," which means the Summer of San Martino. This is similar to what we call an Indian Summer in the USA. It's when the weather is particularly nice after a cold spell, but it refers specifically to ...

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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!

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What a moving experience yesterday morning to see What a moving experience yesterday morning to see the Olympic torch in Amalfi. 🔥 One of the many many reasons I love living right in the center of Amalfi is that in one minute I can be in the middle of making pasta with artichokes and the next watching a historic moment happen. I never take that for granted! @milanocortina2026 @olympics
Well that was unexpected but fun! 🎄#amalfi #christ Well that was unexpected but fun! 🎄#amalfi #christmas #natale
Lovely new Christmas ornament created by @illustra Lovely new Christmas ornament created by @illustrationbyjonathan of Jane Austen’s House in Chawton and her tiny 12-sided writing table. It looks exactly like the beautiful spring day when I was there in April this year. Such a beautiful memory! I think this will have to stay out all year.
Happy 250th birthday to Jane Austen! One of the de Happy 250th birthday to Jane Austen! One of the definite highlights of my year was visiting @janeaustenshouse in Chawton on a beautiful spring day. I still think of her tiny writing table and what it felt like to stand there and take it all in. I’ve enjoyed the book “A Jane Austen Year” throughout the year - pulling it off the shelf at the start of each month. While at Chawton, I picked up the embroidery kit by @abigailrosecreative made to celebrate the 250th celebration. I’ve been wanting to learn to do embroidery for years, so this was the perfect souvenir from Jane Austen’s House. Still a work in progress, but I’m nearly there! 🧵🪡
I don’t know how to begin describing Naples, which I don’t know how to begin describing Naples, which is how I felt seeing “Partenope - Musica per la sirena di Napoli” at the @teatrosancarlo yesterday. This opera in one act was written by the great Ennio Morricone 30 years ago, and it was finally performed for the first time this weekend. Just in time for the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of Naples. Mary Oliver wrote: “A town cannot live on dreams.” I was thinking about that line yesterday and wondering if maybe a town could live on mythology. 2,500 years later, Naples might just be proof that it can.
A beautiful and very festive Christmas tree lighti A beautiful and very festive Christmas tree lighting at the @anantaraconventodiamalfi tonight! Always love hearing the beautiful voice of my sweet friend @lucykielymusic. Now it feels like Natale in Amalfi! ✨🎶🎄
As 2025 winds down, I’ve been making my way throug As 2025 winds down, I’ve been making my way through some of the books sitting unfinished on my bedside table. I usually finish a book once started, but occasionally I come across one that is so good I can’t let myself rush through it all at once. I want to hang on to that first read as long as I can, slowly savoring the way it changes the geography of my mind.

This autumn that has been “Upstream” - a selection of essays by Mary Oliver. If “attention is the beginning of devotion,” as Oliver writes in the first essay in the book, I am deeply devoted to her writing. Few writers capture my attention and hold it the way she does. This will be a book I know will return to again and again. And, even though I’ve finished, it might be a long time before it leaves my bedside table. I’ll just leave you with a couple of Oliver’s magical lines:

“You must not ever stop being whimsical.

And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.”
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