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Amalfi Coast Moments of Poetry

PHOTOGRAPHY · September 5, 2014

Foto Friday: Instructions for Living a Life

There are so many ways that the poet Mary Oliver has captured beautiful moments of life in her work, but this excerpt from her poem "Sometimes" is perhaps my favorite. It has that slap you in the face simplicity and speaks a truth that really resonates with me. So few people pay attention to what ...

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Amalfi Coast Travel Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu

PHOTOGRAPHY · August 29, 2014

Foto Friday | Nel blu dipinto di blu

Oh, it's good to be back home on the Amalfi Coast. Since moving here many years ago, I've never traveled back to America in the summer. After enjoying warm weather, sunshine, fresh picked sweet corn and BLTs in Nebraska, I realize what I've been missing. But then I come home and see colors like this ...

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Most Beautiful Beaches of the Amalfi Coast

TRAVEL · August 27, 2014

A Day at Santa Croce Beach

Anyone who has spent time on the Amalfi Coast or lived here has a favorite beach. The beautiful beaches and tiny little coves that dot the coastline certainly can make that a hard decision. While I have quite a few that would be contenders, there's only one that could be called my favorite - the ...

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Amalfi Coast Travel Garden Terrace

PHOTOGRAPHY · July 11, 2014

Foto Friday | Amalfi Coast Garden

Often when I'm out walking or hiking on the Amalfi Coast, I simply have to stop and marvel at the way of life that people have created here - often for generations. Way high above Amalfi, and nowhere particularly roads, you see terraces of lemons. And you know that to tend those lemon groves, make ...

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Amalfi Coast Travel Pink Flowers Campanile

PHOTOGRAPHY · July 5, 2014

Pink Flowers on the Bell Tower

In early summer the Amalfi Coast blushes a bright pink. When the days become warm and spring showers have turned everything a lush green, the valerian flowers burst out, quite literally, from every nook and cranny. They poke out of crumbly stone walls, drape over the walkways through villages and ...

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Amalfi Coast Best Beaches Harbor

TRAVEL · June 14, 2014

First Summer Swim in Amalfi

Summer has arrived on the Amalfi Coast! The first half of June has been unusually warm, which has the beaches busy and sunbathers happy. Dig out the flip flops, swimsuits and towels. It's time for the beach! I didn't make it to the beach until last weekend, a tad behind many of the locals and a lot ...

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LIFESTYLE · May 15, 2014

Happy in Amalfi

For those of you that love the Amalfi Coast, then you'll enjoy this video featuring Pharrell Williams very catchy song "Happy" filmed in Amalfi. Like that one? Check out the We Are Happy From Positano video and the Happy from Ravello video, too. Love all the enthusiasm and, well, ...

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Amalfi Coast Festa della Liberazione

PHOTOGRAPHY · April 25, 2014

Foto Friday: Festa della Liberazione

Today is the Festa della Liberazione, a national holiday in Italy commemorating the liberation from fascism at the end of World War II. Quite an important historical event to celebrate and an even more important one to never forget. I caught this photo of the Italian flag (with the symbols of the ...

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Amalfi Coast Travel Vesuvius Naples

TRAVEL · March 10, 2014

A View to Vesuvius

From the Amalfi Coast there are a few ways to reach Naples, but from Amalfi the quickest and easiest is via the Valico di Chiunzi, a pass across the Lattari mountains connecting the Amalfi Coast to Naples and the surrounding area. From Ravello, the road climbs higher and deeper into the mountains ...

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Amalfi Coast Travel History

TRAVEL · March 2, 2014

Return to the Sea

The people of Amalfi have always had a strong connection to the sea. Not just because of the town's geographic setting, but because of something that seems to run deep in the blood. This is the something that led those Amalfitani in the Middle Ages to head out across the sea to other parts of the ...

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Cat on a Hot Roof

PHOTOGRAPHY · February 21, 2014

Foto Friday: Cat on a Hot Roof

If you've ever lived in another country long enough to feel like it's your home, then you might know that funny feeling when you forget you're actually living in another country. The Amalfi Coast has felt like home since the first time I visited here in 2007. But sometimes there are moments when I ...

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Marina Grande Beach Amalfi

TRAVEL · February 15, 2014

Winter Sunshine

There's nothing quite like when the sun comes out in February after a rainy spell. There's the warmth of the sunshine to dry everything out, but also that sense of spring on its way. It's hopeful, warm and irresistible. And not just for the Amalfitani! We took an afternoon stroll in Amalfi this ...

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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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This morning was a little cloudy when I went out f This morning was a little cloudy when I went out for my morning walk like I do most mornings in Amalfi. Down the coast, across the Gulf of Salerno, rays of light were shining right on the city of Salerno. I had set out with Salerno on my mind because it was there that 82 years ago today—on September 9, 1943—the Landing of Salerno began during WWII. My Grandpa was in the Army during the war - a lot of it in Italy. Yet he would never speak of where he was or what he did, and certainly had no desire to ever see Italy again after the war. While he probably wasn’t in that first landing in Salerno, he would have been somewhere in Italy, perhaps further south in Calabria or in Sicily. I always think of him during these days and wonder about those hard experiences he must have had in Italy. And very grateful for what he and so many fought for and endured. 

If you ever visit Salerno, south of the city there’s an Allied War Cemetery that is a moving and important place to visit. 🤍
Have I ever shared one of my favorite poems about Have I ever shared one of my favorite poems about Amalfi? It’s by the American poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933). It’s simple and it’s heartbreaking - like first loves so often are. But I think about it often, especially on night walks in Amalfi. 

Night Song At Amalfi

I asked the heaven of stars
What I should give my love —
It answered me with silence,
Silence above.

I asked the darkened sea
Down where the fishers go —
It answered me with silence,
Silence below.

Oh, I could give him weeping,
Or I could give him song —
But how can I give silence,
My whole life long?
The best kind of mail day! Just received a package The best kind of mail day! Just received a package of the books I ordered from @papexbookshop in Florence. Looking forward to reading the latest books by @nickypellegrino and @phaedrapatrick set in Italy (comp research is so fun!) plus a book I’ve been eager to read about Dorothy L. Sayers, who was a wildly fascinating woman. Just putting this here as a little encouragement for all of us to support our local bookshops - even when they’re not that local! 📚
Juggling but make it medieval and add more flags! Juggling but make it medieval and add more flags! 💙 Amalfi celebrated the historic Byzantine New Year yesterday with a grand parade, including this impressive performance by the Sbandieratori e Musici della Città Regia from Cava de’ Tirreni. Even better, this year for the 25th anniversary of the event, they celebrated our beloved local historian Professor Giuseppe Gargano, who inspired the creation of this historic event in the 1980s celebrating Amalfi’s history. Congratulation to Prof. Gargano - the new Magister do Civiltà Amalfitana! 🎉
I’ve been spending some time lately with my fait I’ve been spending some time lately with my faithful old companion Longfellow. It’s been such a glorious reminder that my work with him has only just begun. Head over to Substack (link in bio) to read more about Longfellow’s time in Rome in 1828, the Piazza Navona lake, and the unexpected fun of traveling with poets. Bibliotourism at its best! 📚
It was a surprise to me to find such a brilliant g It was a surprise to me to find such a brilliant green sign of life on the top of Mt. Vesuvius on a cold spring day hiking up to the Gran Cono back in March this year. In the freezing wind with steam rising from the crater, there was this moss growing bright green and happy like a summer day. While we were in awe of the overwhelming bigness that is a volcano, it’s the moss there at the edge that I’ve found myself thinking of since that day. Especially while listening to “Gathering Moss: A Natural & Cultural History of Mosses” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. And, likely not by chance, it was recommended by my friend Amber who was there on top of Vesuvius that day too. It turns out that the first plants to grow on a volcano after eruption are called pioneer species and are most often mosses and lichen. Thank you to Amber who is constantly reminding me that there is so much more to the world than meets the eye. 💚
Blue and white skies over Amalfi. ☁️ Blue and white skies over Amalfi. ☁️
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