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TRAVEL · August 19, 2012

Chestnuts in August

Weekends in August are generally a time to avoid the beach on the Amalfi Coast. Crisi or no crisi, I swear half of Italy is on the beach in Amalfi this time of year. With hotter than usual temperatures right now, unless I can nab a spot close to the edge of the water I feel like reenacting the "I'm ...

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HISTORY & CULTURE · August 11, 2012

Memoriae | Igor Mitoraj Ravello Festival Exhibition

Every year the Ravello Festival is centered around a theme running through the art exhibitions, concerts and cultural events that take place during the summer.  Memory is the theme of the 2012 Ravello Festival and the current exhibition Memoriae, Mitoraj a Ravello. The monumental sculptural works of ...

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TRAVEL · June 3, 2012

Ready for the Regata!

The Amalfi Coast woke up this morning to a sunny June day, picture perfect for the 57th Regata delle Antiche Repubbliche Marinare! Flags are flying all over town and it promises to be a fun day. We're all ready for the regata! To share the festive spirit, here are some photos I took on Friday in ...

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TRAVEL · May 18, 2012

Signs of Summer on the Amalfi Coast

Maybe it's the Nebraska girl in me, but few things capture the feeling of summer quite like watermelon. Yesterday I stopped into one of my favorite fruit and vegetable shops in Amalfi. The couple ahead of me had asked for a piece of anguria (watermelon), and the woman in the shop was busy cutting ...

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LIFESTYLE · May 5, 2012

Enjoying the Twists & Turns of Life on the Amalfi Coast

It's been a rainy spring on the Amalfi Coast, but yesterday was the perfect day to take my scooter out for a ride. While I have been out for some short trips, this was the first time I enjoyed a ride with the spring scents in the air, the sun shining and the trees all leafed out. As soon as I ...

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TRAVEL · April 20, 2012

PlanetSolar Visits Amalfi

As my eyes scanned the familiar view across Amalfi's harbor, they stopped at something with a large, flat top docked on the opposite side. "What is that?" I asked my husband as we stood there squinting into the sunshine. "It looks like a spaceship landed in Amalfi," I said. And with that there was ...

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TRAVEL · April 13, 2012

Let the busy days begin!

If it hasn't started to get rolling yet, the long weekend for Easter is the official start of the tourist season along the Amalfi Coast. In the days leading up to Easter last week, the mornings were already buzzing in Amalfi. Tourist buses have started to arrive nearly every day from Sorrento, ...

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Villa Cimbrone - Romantic Spots in Ravello

TRAVEL · February 12, 2012

Where to Propose on the Amalfi Coast

With San Valentino just around the corner, romance is definitely in the air. The Amalfi Coast is one of the top travel destinations for romance in Italy – popular for engagements, destination weddings, honeymoons and special anniversary celebrations. As a romantic at heart, I would love to share ...

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LIFESTYLE · January 16, 2012

The Magic of Sunrise

Early this morning, we made our way around the familiar curves on the way home from the Naples airport. The only hard part of having family visit is that eventually the time comes when we have to haul the suitcases back up the stairs—invariably at an unreasonable hour of the morning—and make the ...

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TRAVEL · December 21, 2011

The First Snow on the Amalfi Coast

Yesterday morning we woke up to find a dusting of snow on the tops of the Lattari Mountains high above the Amalfi Coast. It was a beautiful sight in the morning sunshine. It doesn't snow often down at lower altitudes, but I do love the wintery setting of seeing it on the mountaintops. The snow ...

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FOOD & DRINK · December 7, 2011

Picking Mandarin Oranges in Amalfi

When they're ready, word begins to spread through the family. The mandarini—mandarin oranges—are ready! This is a moment I wait for eagerly each December, when the mandarins are ready to be picked in Vettica. If you've traveled around the Amalfi Coast, or small towns most anywhere in Italy, you've ...

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TRAVEL · December 3, 2011

On the Road Home

Earlier this week I arrived back home in Italy at Naples' Capodichino airport, the closest airport to the Amalfi Coast. Anyone who has driven on the autostrada through Naples knows that the stress of  international travel is nothing compared to simply surviving the short drive from the airport 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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