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Ciao Amalfi Coast Travel Cathedral of Amalfi

PHOTOGRAPHY · April 11, 2014

Foto Friday: The Duomo in My Dreams

I woke up this morning just after sunrise but before the alarm beeped the beginning of a new day. I'm a morning person, even on the mornings when my body feels like starting a little bit slower. Even before I had moved, my brain was fighting its way through the fog of sleep and when I woke up it was ...

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Amalfi Coast Travel Ravello Walk

TRAVEL · March 17, 2014

Bends, Curves and Checks in Ravello

There is a staircase I follow often to visit family that leads from the main piazza of Ravello, through and under the Villa Rufulo and past two churches. The first church is the much photographed Chiesa della SS. Annunziata. But my favorite view of it is the one you see above, which is so nicely ...

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Ciao Amalfi San Biagio Church Amalfi

PHOTOGRAPHY · January 31, 2014

Foto Friday: San Biagio in Amalfi

This week's photo shows one of my favorite spots in Amalfi where you can see how the buildings were built right into and around the mountains. I love how they're all stacked up on top of one another! At the top of the heap is the Church of San Biagio (or Saint Blaise). The zigzag staircase leads to ...

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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 · July 16, 2012

Hurrying Up and Waiting on the Amalfi Coast

I grew up hearing the motto "hurry up and wait" often, and we did in fact do a lot of waiting when I was a kid. It was a habit passed down by my grandfather from his days in the Navy to my mother growing up on a small family farm in rural Nebraska. It's a habit I've been grateful for over the years, ...

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LIFESTYLE · July 29, 2011

Photo Friday: Salve

I pass this whitewashed entrance to a house on my usual walk, and every time the work "Salve" painted above the doorway catches my eye. This common expression of greeting in Italian simply means "hello," but I always wonder about it as I pass by. I've never seen anyone coming or going, there are ...

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PHOTOGRAPHY · July 22, 2011

Photo Friday: The View from the Top

I haven't been to Capri yet this year, but I'm itching to go! The island is stunning in so many ways, and it's one of my favorite spots in the area for taking photographs. I took this photo of the dome of the Santo Stefano Church at the end of last summer, and I don't believe I've shared it here ...

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LIFESTYLE · March 23, 2011

Coming Home Again to Amalfi

One of the small pleasures of going away is coming home again. When you love the place where you live, it becomes like an old friend that you haven't seen in awhile. You notice, perhaps, how they're wearing their hair in a new way or the new glasses. With a town like Amalfi, it's the small details ...

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PHOTOGRAPHY · March 18, 2011

Photo Friday: Amalfi at Sunset

A couple of weeks before I left Italy for this trip to America, I walked for the first time along the Via Maestra dei Villagi, an ancient footpath that connects Amalfi with the hamlets of Pastena, Lone, Vettica and high up in the mountains to Tovere and Pogerola. We walked it at sunset from Lone ...

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PHOTOGRAPHY · January 7, 2011

Photo Friday: Architectural Layers

The architecture of the Amalfi Coast is endlessly fascinating to me, and the Duomo of Salerno is one of my favorite spots in Campania. I took this photo in the beautiful atrium looking up to the 12th-century bell tower. To learn more and see more photos (including one of the crypt you won't want to ...

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PHOTOGRAPHY · December 10, 2010

Photo Friday: The Fearful Fountain

Usually, the photos I pick out each week for Photo Friday jump out to me. Often they're nice memories from an event or something that I've done over the past weeks or months. Other times I scan through my photos and nothing seems quite right. This one, however, is perfect for this week. It's been ...

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PHOTOGRAPHY · November 26, 2010

Photo Friday: Watching Over Amalfi

I don't think I'll ever tire of taking photographs of Amalfi's Duomo of Sant' Andrea. There's something so intriguing to me about the design and its situation at the top of the grand staircase watching over all the activity in the town's main piazza. While walking down the 62 steps a few weeks ago, ...

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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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