Ciao! I'm Laura.
  • Journal
  • About
  • Writing
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Journal
  • Books
  • Podcast
  • About
    • Writing
  • Contact

Ciao Amalfi

LIFESTYLE · September 8, 2010

Favorite Italian Films: Under the Tuscan Sun

With the Venice Film Festival under way and three big movies out in America - “Letters to Juliet,” “The American” and “Eat Pray Love” - all filmed in Italy, I thought it would be good timing to host a series of guest posts on Favorite Italian Films. I’ll be weighing in on some of my favorite flicks ...

View the Post

FOOD & DRINK, WRITING · September 6, 2010

Cookbook Review: Cooking Up an Italian Life by Sharon Sanders

I enjoy cooking throughout the year. But when the weather begins to feel cooler, and the sycamore leaves turn that light golden hue, I find myself looking forward to the evening hours and preparing dinner. The first rainy day—with a cool breeze blowing down from the mountains—has come and gone, and ...

View the Post

FOOD & DRINK · August 30, 2010

A Delectable Panino in Florence by Katie Greenaway

When I visited my friend Katie in Florence this past May, she was kind enough to meet me at the train station since it was my first time in Florence. After dropping off my bag at the hotel, my stomach rumbling reminded me that after the train ride from Salerno to Florence it was certainly time for ...

View the Post

WRITING · August 25, 2010

Bleeding Espresso’s Gita Italiana 2010

Have you all been following the Gita Italiana 2010 (Italy Tour 2010) over at Bleeding Espresso? If you love Italy, then this is the perfect chance to do some virtual traveling around the boot this month. Michelle has invited guest writers from all over Italy to write about where they live, and each ...

View the Post

Italy · August 24, 2010

Tempting Tuesday: At the Beach in La Maremma, Tuscany

When it comes to planning a trip to Italy’s Tuscany region, the first images that comes to mind are naturally of rolling hillsides, medieval hilltop villages, winding roads lined with those “creepy Italian trees”, and fields of sunflowers. And that certainly is Tuscany! But the region also has ...

View the Post

Italy · August 10, 2010

Tempting Tuesday: Tropea’s Tantalizing Beaches by Cherrye Moore

For this week’s Tempting Tuesday beach series, we’re traveling to Calabria’s beautiful Tropea with Cherrye Moore from My Bella Vita. Here on the Amalfi Coast, we also know all about August heat and crowded beaches. But that’s just another part of the summer season here. Either you stay home in ...

View the Post

Beaches, Italy · July 27, 2010

Tempting Tuesday: La Spiaggia della Giannella in Argentario, Tuscany by Katie Greenaway

You might think that with so many tempting beaches on the Amalfi Coast that I wouldn’t dream of traveling anywhere else to hit the beach in Italy. But I have to admit that the white, sandy beaches of Tuscany have always been alluring to me. Especially this time of year when the massive Amalfi Coast ...

View the Post

Beaches, Italy · July 13, 2010

Tempting Tuesday: Cooling Off in Calabria at Giovino Beach by Cherrye Moore

This month we’re heading to the beach with a great line up of Tempting Tuesday posts by writers from around the world. I asked them to share with us their favorite beach, which is a refreshing topic during this sticky and hot time of year in southern Italy. This week Cherrye Moore from My Bella Vita ...

View the Post

Italy, Travel Inspirations · July 1, 2010

Tempting Tuesday: Dropping Anchor in Venice by Andrea Perullo

When I think of Venice something in my heart still sighs. It was the first place I visited in Italy ten years ago and it certainly stole a piece of my heart. I am happy to welcome this week Andrea Perullo from My Beautiful Adventures, who experienced a similar draw to Venice just as many years ago. ...

View the Post

Italy, Travel Inspirations · June 27, 2010

Walking among the cobblestones in Florence, Italy

  This Sunday I’m happy to welcome back my friend Katie Greenaway, an American who now lives in Florence, Italy. She tempted us last Tuesday with her favorite church in Florence, and today she’s taking us on a walk through the streets of her beloved city. These two guest posts on Florence have ...

View the Post

Italy, Travel Inspirations · June 22, 2010

Tempting Tuesday: SS. Apostoli in Florence with Katie Greenaway

This is a very special Tempting Tuesday for me. I am happy to welcome my friend Katie Greenaway to write about one of her favorite spots in Florence, where she is so lucky to call home. This is special, because last month when I visited Florence and met Katie in person for the first time, she took ...

View the Post

Italy, Travel Inspirations · June 15, 2010

Tempting Tuesday: Sicilian Dreams

Last week for  Tempting Tuesday Cherrye took us down to the Sizzlin’ Soverato beach in Calabria. That post was perfectly timed with the arrival of the first sunny and hot weather of summer. I’ve been sizzlin’ this past week on the beaches of the Amalfi Coast, and taking some lovely photos to ...

View the Post

  • ← Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next →

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

  • Journal
  • Moon Amalfi Coast
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

Amalfi Coast

  • Amalfi
  • Positano
  • Ravello
  • Amalfi Coast

Explore

  • Travel
  • History & Culture
  • Food & Drink
  • Shopping

Laura Thayer

  • About
  • Writing
  • Book Reviews
  • Work with Me

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. 💜
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Disclosure

Copyright © 2025 Ciao Amalfi · Theme by 17th Avenue