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Novel

WRITING · January 30, 2022

We’re Writing a Novel!

Well, I really should title this: “We're finishing that novel!” For those readers who know me well, you’re probably thinking, “Finally!” Many years ago I started collaborating on a novel with my mother (that's the we!), who had a beautiful idea for a story set on the Amalfi Coast come to her one ...

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View of Scala on the Amalfi Coast

TRAVEL, WRITING · May 17, 2020

A Glimpse of My Scala in Italia! Magazine

While travel and most everything has been on hold this spring, the April 2020 issue of Italia! Magazine featured an article I wrote called 48 Hours in Scala. For those of you following Ciao Amalfi for some time now, you'll know that I've spent a lot more than 48 hours in Scala. About 12 years ...

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dream-of-italy-capri-walks

WRITING · August 12, 2017

Check Out My Favorite Capri Walks in Dream of Italy!

It's been a quiet summer around here on Ciao Amalfi, but it certainly hasn't been a quiet time. Summer is always a busy period, but this year seems especially hectic ... and hot! We've had a heat wave on the Amalfi Coast, making usually hot August even stickier than normal. But I've had a lot of fun ...

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WRITING · February 7, 2016

The Amalfi Coast in Perillo Traveler Magazine

The last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind, but in many good ways. In the middle of multiple writing projects, the end result can sometimes seem so far away. But when the final product arrives, all the extra work is worthwhile. It was a joy to get the Winter 2016 issue of Perillo Traveler ...

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NIAF Ambassador Magazine The Amalfi Coast

WRITING · December 6, 2014

The Amalfi Coast: Walking Through History One Step at a Time

This summer I had the pleasure to write about one of my favorite pastimes on the Amalfi Coast -- walking and exploring the ancient pathways and hiking trails -- for the NIAF Ambassador magazine. This is this quarterly magazine for the National Italian American Foundation, which is a wonderful ...

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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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Ciao Amalfi Coast Travel September Sunrise

LIFESTYLE · September 1, 2013

September Sunrise

The sunrise this morning, the first day of September, was warm and soft. The start of a new month on the calendar can mean so little and so much. One day to the next, no big deal, right? But there's something special for me about the beginning of September. While mindfulness and enjoying the present ...

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WRITING · April 17, 2012

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall

I've been stuck lately working on a chapter in the novel. I know, it happens to writers all the time. The writing rarely flows continuously without a hiccup here or there to slow things down. Like the washboard surfaces on the dirt roads that were so much fun to ride my bike over when I was kid, I ...

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TRAVEL · April 10, 2012

A Change of Seasons

Over the past week and Easter weekend, the weather has changed from spring to winter and back to spring again on the Amalfi Coast. After a rainy and cold Saturday, the sun peeked out for a little bit on Easter Sunday before another storm came through in the evening. I popped my head outside the ...

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WRITING · January 28, 2012

The Traveling Writer

I wrapped my scarf around my neck an extra time against the cold wind as we crossed the Pont d'Arcole toward the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. The weather in Paris had been mild compared to our previous January visits, but along the Seine I could feel that the temperature had dropped according to the ...

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WRITING · October 9, 2011

A Writing Life

Not long ago, I changed the tagline of Ciao Amalfi from "Savoring Daily Life on Italy's Amalfi Coast" to "A Writing Life on Italy's Amalfi Coast." This small change reflects a significant shift within myself, one that has been happening so gradually over the past four and half years that I had ...

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PHOTOGRAPHY · July 6, 2011

A Summer Morning in Atrani

A beautiful Saturday morning and I needed a few photos for an article I was writing on the town of Atrani on the Amalfi Coast. There was only one thing to do ... a photo outing! It was a peaceful morning, and I saw only a few people while I wandered through town taking photos. Head over to Charming ...

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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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