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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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HISTORY & CULTURE · June 4, 2023

La Rondinaia – Visiting “The Swallow’s Nest” in Ravello

There are places where a spirit remains, especially when those places are much-loved homes. One such place is La Rondinaia, a remarkable villa in Ravello that was home to the American writer Gore Vidal (1925-2012) for more than 30 years. Its whimsical name—meaning "The Swallow’s Nest"—comes from the ...

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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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PEOPLE · October 9, 2022

The Amalfi Coast in Song: An Interview with Lucy Kiely

In a landscape so beautiful it often seems straight out of a film, what's missing is a soundtrack that captures the essence of the Amalfi Coast. That's where the music of Lucy Kiely, an Amalfi Coast based jazz singer and songwriter, comes in. Lucy's latest album Un'Estate Italiana has just been ...

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PEOPLE, PHOTOGRAPHY · July 10, 2022

Photographing the Amalfi Coast: An Interview with Emanuele Anastasio

From brilliant summer days to moody winter storms, the Amalfi Coast is a photographer's dream spot every day of the year. There are, however, some very special days when a photographer's keen eye can capture a moment of history. One of those days is the Regata delle Antiche Repubbliche Marinare, the ...

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Moon Amalfi Coast

BOOKS, WRITING · February 8, 2022

Moon Amalfi Coast with Capri, Naples & Pompeii, 2nd Edition

It's no secret that I love books. For as long as I can remember, I've loved books. The discovery, the possibility when stepping into a library or bookstore, the comfort in stacks of books around the house. The time spent with books is always special, whether it be hours that pass while lost in a ...

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LIFESTYLE · October 24, 2021

The Summer of C

After what has been a long year and a half -- for so many of us -- this was the summer I thought I'd be reading a lot of books and relaxing at the beach. Maybe even reading some of those books while listening to the sound of the sea in Amalfi. (Maybe more than maybe.) Instead, it was the summer I ...

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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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FOOD & DRINK · July 26, 2020

Recipes from Expats in Positano

The joy that comes from cooking and sharing meals is a staple of Italian daily life. During the long days of quarantine on the Amalfi Coast, time together over lunch and dinner was often the highlight of the days for many families. In fact, in the early days of quarantine the only thing you might ...

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FOOD & DRINK · July 4, 2020

New Live Streaming Amalfi Coast Cooking Classes with Mamma Agata Live

If you've been missing the flavors of the Amalfi Coast, I have some exciting news. The Mamma Agata Cooking School has launched a series of live streaming cooking classes direct from their kitchen in Ravello! Since so many travelers are unable to make it to the Amalfi Coast this year, they've created ...

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TRAVEL · June 13, 2020

Amalfi Coast Tourism Restarts

After months of being quarantined and a slow restart, earlier this month marked the reopening of travel between regions in Italy and, an even bigger step, the reopening of borders in the European Union. While we're all happy here in Amalfi to see shops and restaurants opening again, it has been ...

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View of Scala on the Amalfi Coast

TRAVEL, WRITING · May 17, 2020

A Glimpse of My Scala in Italia! Magazine

While travel and most everything has been on hold this spring, the April 2020 issue of Italia! Magazine featured an article I wrote called 48 Hours in Scala. For those of you following Ciao Amalfi for some time now, you'll know that I've spent a lot more than 48 hours in Scala. About 12 years ...

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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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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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