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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, TRAVEL · December 14, 2011

Festival of Sant’ Andrea in Amalfi

For years I have been wanting to share about the Festival of Sant' Andrea, Amalfi's largest religious celebration, here on Ciao Amalfi. This grand event happens twice per year in Amalfi, the summer religious festival taking place on June 27th and the winter celebration on Saint Andrew's feast day ...

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HISTORY & CULTURE, TRAVEL · August 29, 2011

A Summer Night at the Festival of La Maddalena in Atrani

Every summer on July 22nd, the small town of Atrani celebrates Santa Maria Maddalena, or La Maddalena, with an evening of festivities that includes a religious procession, band concerts and a wonderful fireworks display over the sea after dark. Last year I followed the procession of the statue of La ...

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HISTORY & CULTURE, TRAVEL · June 27, 2011

Festival of Sant’ Antonio in Amalfi & Atrani – 2011

One of the things I love most about the religious festivals on the Amalfi Coast is that I feel like I see and experience something new every year. Not only are there different events planned, but there are also so many different spots to watch the processions and traditions to learn about. This year ...

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HISTORY & CULTURE, TRAVEL · June 8, 2011

Summer Religious Festivals on the Amalfi Coast

June has arrived ... and it's summer on the Amalfi Coast! If you're planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast this summer, here is a list of some of the best religious festivals from June to August. Even if you're not Roman Catholic, timing your holiday on the Amalfi Coast to coincide with a religious ...

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PHOTOGRAPHY · December 3, 2010

Photo Friday: Festival of Sant’ Andrea in Amalfi

The end of November is a special time in Amalfi. On the 29th and 30th of November, the town celebrates their patron saint and protector Sant' Andrea (St. Andrew) with special masses and a big procession of the beautiful 17th-century statue of the saint that you see in the photograph above. This year ...

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What's On · July 29, 2010

La Festa della Maddalena in Atrani

    The biggest event of the year in Atrani takes place on July 22nd when the town celebrates Santa Maria Maddalena (Saint Mary Magdalen), the patron saint and protector of Atrani. The Church of Santa Maria Maddalena, beautiful from every direction, is one of Atrani’s distinctive ...

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Amalfi · June 18, 2010

Festival of Sant’Antonio, Amalfi

    Last Sunday was the festival day for Sant’Antonio di Padova (St. Anthony of Padua), which is one of the most unique religious celebrations in Amalfi. The church of Sant’Antonio in Amalfi is located between Amalfi and Atrani, and because of this location the religious procession takes ...

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Salerno · September 23, 2009

La Festa di San Matteo in the Rain

When I stepped off the boat in Salerno the rain was gently falling and I realized I was not at all where I thought I was. Perhaps it was due to the maltempo, or bad weather, but the boat I was on from Amalfi stopped at the Molo Manfredi instead of the Porto Turistico in Salerno. The problem being ...

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TRAVEL · June 27, 2009

Boat Procession for the Festival of Sant’Antonio in Amalfi

    Just after the statue of Sant’Antonio was safely loaded on the boat and the priest and members of the religious procession had boarded, I heard a voice yell, “Dove le due ragazze?” My heart almost stopped. One of those two girls was me! A good friend had arranged for me and a ...

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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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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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