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TRAVEL · November 3, 2012

The End of the Season

Like clockwork, the end of October often brings with it a big storm and an abrupt change in the seasons. One day the beaches will be dotted with sunbathers enjoying the last warm autumn days while holding onto summer for as long as possible and then the next the beaches will be barren and covered ...

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TRAVEL · December 27, 2011

This is Winter in Amalfi

Like any good story, a place has multiple sides, fascinating characters that draw you in, unexpected twists, and moments that make you fall in love. You can't know a story from only reading a few pages, just like you can't know a place until you've been there turning the pages day by day – being ...

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LIFESTYLE · July 17, 2011

Finding Home on the Amalfi Coast

It doesn't take long to feel at home on the Amalfi Coast. I imagine many travelers experience the same feeling of familiarity and comfort when they first arrive, just as I did in February 2007 when I first visited Amalfi. There's a warmth, openness and curiosity for foreigners in many of the locals ...

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LIFESTYLE · April 11, 2011

Watching the Tenders

The first cruise ship of the season came into port in Amalfi last Friday on a beautiful morning. Oceania Cruises has several luxury cruise ships that stop in Amalfi, including the Insignia that came on Friday. I love to watch the cruise ships arrive early in the morning. Once the anchor is dropped, ...

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LIFESTYLE · November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving from the Amalfi Coast!

While Thanksgiving Day isn't a holiday in Italy, many Italians do know about the holiday. Here it is called il giorno del ringraziamento, which literally translates as "the day of  thanksgiving." As an expat, it is always hard to be away from family on important holidays. I feel this even more so ...

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LIFESTYLE · August 29, 2010

Southern Italian Generosity

This morning while shaking a rug out the window (Yes, I actually do that.), our friendly neighbor called across the garden asking if we’d like some tomatoes. Of course! These neighbors have some terraces of land that they put to very good use and work hard every day tending all kinds of fruits and ...

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LIFESTYLE · May 24, 2010

Beyond Rome…

  Ever wonder how I ended up here on the Amalfi Coast? Want to know about a couple of my favorite restaurants? Well, click right on over and read my interview Beyond Rome with Laura on the Amalfi Coast on the BrowsingRome.com website. This is one of my new favorite Italy travel websites, so ...

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WRITING · April 30, 2010

Spreading the Love…

Thanks to the new Travel Inspirations Series here on Ciao Amalfi, I’ve had some of my favorite writers around the blogosphere stopping by and sharing some of the places around the world (and here in Italy, too!) that have inspired them. Keep watching in the coming weeks for some great new additions ...

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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!

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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