Places I Remember with Lea Lane
On this monthly award-winning travel podcast, host Lea Lane shares travel memories and travel tips with passionate travelers, travel experts, and savvy locals around the world. Lea has traveled to over 100 countries, is the author of nine books, a blogger at forbes.com, and a contributor to dozens of guidebooks. Smart. Fun! Over 100 episodes!
Places I Remember with Lea Lane
Exploring Italy's Glorious Amalfi Coast
Sarah Thompson, the founder of Luxama Travel, shares her personal experiences and expert knowledge as we traverse the legendary 'Strata Statale 163 Amalfitana' on Italy's Amalfi Coast, a cliff side route famed for breathtaking views and exhilarating challenges.
Discover the charm of this coastal paradise, where the art of "dolce far niente," or the sweetness of doing nothing, is celebrated in every sun-drenched alley and lemon-scented breeze along the Amalfi Coast drive. From Sorrento's picturesque paths to the serene natural beauty of the Jerontal reserve, Sarah invites us to experience the magic of this iconic location.
We also uncover the hidden treasures of the Amalfi Coast's charming towns, from the delectable anchovies of Chitara to Vietre Sul Mare's vibrant ceramics. Our journey culminates in Salerno, the bustling city that blends history with modern allure. As Sarah recounts cherished memories of scooter rides and floating in the Mediterranean, she inspires us to pause, disconnect, and embrace the beauty. Whether you're planning a visit or simply dreaming of Italian landscapes, this episode transports you to one of the world's most enchanting destinations.
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Sarah Thompson, is the founder of Luxama Travel. She lives in Southern Italy.
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Podcast host Lea Lane has traveled to over 100 countries, and has written nine books, including the award-winning Places I Remember (Kirkus Reviews star rating, and 'one of the top 100 Indie books of the year'). She has contributed to many guidebooks and has written thousands of travel articles.
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Our award-winning travel podcast, Places I Remember with Lea Lane, has dropped over 115 travel episodes! New episodes drop on the first Tuesday of the month, on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen.
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In the years before TripAdvisor and social media, I wrote travel guidebooks for major publications and one of the destinations I wrote about was the spectacular Amalfi Coast In southern Italy. It overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno, from Sorrento to Salerno. It's considered one of the most scenic coastlines in the world and it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. It's got rich history, art, culture, 500-foot cliffs, 100 beaches. It's just gorgeous. Our guest, Sarah Thompson, lives in the area. She's founder of Lux ama Travel, a boutique agency that specializes in custom-planned itineraries along the Amalfi Coast, one of our favorite places in the world. Welcome, Sarah, to Places I Remember.
Sarah Thompson:Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here today.
Lea Lane:Great to have you In this episode. We're going to take a verbal drive along the Amalfi Coast. We'll start in the area of Sorrento and end the drive at Salerno, a modern Italian city where you could catch the highway back. Okay, let's first talk about the history of the area. The Amalfi Coast was part of the Roman Empire and there are many patrician villas remaining today. The Romans built the original road that runs along the coast and in the 9th century, amalfi became the first of the four Italian maritime republics. Along with Venice, genoa and Pisa, it was a commercial power trading with the Arabs and the Byzantines. The Amalfi dukedom expanded in the 10th and 11th centuries and when the Normans conquered the coast in 1136, amalfi's importance declined. The engineering of the modern 35-mile two-lane highway was in the mid-1800s and it took 40 years to complete linking by carriageway the towns of the Amalfi Coast to Salerno. So, sarah, today how would you describe driving Strata Statale 163 Amalfitana, the one and only Amalfi Coast Road?
Sarah Thompson:It's very, very terrifying, but a lot of fun. It's gorgeous, the views are incredible and it's one of the best ways to see the entire coast, with a short wall right next to you, with cliffs falling 500-foot cliffs right next to it. It's crazy.
Lea Lane:You want to take it south so that you can see the view. Most people go south along it and then come back on the highway.
Sarah Thompson:Exactly. You definitely take it south, and some of the better views are that way.
Lea Lane:And if you don't want to drive it, I know you can take a boat on the water. What do you think about that?
Sarah Thompson:If you are terrified of heights or driving and Italian drivers are quite crazy. The road rules do not exist here and scooters are going in and out of traffic. What I always recommend to you from my clients, and what I prefer to do, is take the boat down the coast. It's faster, it's more relaxing and more scenic.
Lea Lane:You can take a tour bus, I guess, if you don't want to drive it yourself and still want to go up there. A lot of people do that. There are lots of them. I read that there's no Uber.
Sarah Thompson:If there's no?
Sarah Thompson:No, oh my goodness, there's no Uber. I wish there was. I wish there was.
Lea Lane:There's taxi that's expensive. And what's this odd, even rule of Italy Tell me about?
Sarah Thompson:Oh my goodness. This is the definition of how Italy does not work in certain ways. So basically, there was a rule that if you had an odd number license plate, you can then drive on an even day along the Amalfi Coast, like if you had a license plate that ended in a seven. You can then drive on even days of the month of the calendar year, and vice versa for driving on the Amalfi Coast. Otherwise you could be pulled over and ticketed and clearly did not work.
Lea Lane:No longer done right.
Sarah Thompson:No, no. I don't even know if it was actually put into action, because following that must have been so complicated and they're just trying to reduce the traffic.
Lea Lane:Well, I think the Amalfi Coast is not so much about doing things but just appreciating things. I felt that when I was there, I was watching and feeling and tasting in a different way the beauty, the food, the people, the towns, the steps. There's so many steps you have to appreciate even walking. And I think that the most popular pastime is maybe something called dolce far niente, the art of doing nothing, just enjoying yourself. But we're going to go along the road now and see what we can find. esides that. We're going to start in a beautiful town called Sorrento. Tell me about it.
Sarah Thompson:Sorrento is absolutely beautiful. I think it's one of the best gems, even though it's technically not the Amalfi Coast, it is the Sorrento Coast, but it's absolutely lovely because there's the historical town of Sorrento, has all these beautiful alleyways, it's very easy to navigate. Very centralized too in between Naples, the city, Capri, the island and then, of course, the Amalfi Coast, it's really accessible and it's so beautiful. Of course, Sorrento is super, super famous for its lemons. There's amazing lemon gardens in the area and in neighboring towns like Meta, Sant'Agnolo, Piano di Sorrento, and that whole peninsula is really, really beautiful.
Lea Lane:And lemons become limoncello, which is also famous, the magnificent after dinner drink which you find all around. I loved walking in Sorrento because it was flat and when you are in you're not going to have a lot of flat, so it's a perfect place to stroll. People shop in the evening, all the craftsmen are out doing wood inlay and it's just lovely, and the villas there that are along the cliffs are gorgeous, many of them hotels now.
Sarah Thompson:Many more hotels, yeah, and they have their own beach clubs there. They're so beautiful, really relaxing. Some of the historical hotels there as well. What you mentioned about Sorrento being flat is because it's so accessible -- great town to kind of centralize yourself in, and there's even an elevator to take you down to the port.
Lea Lane:Absolutely. You go down there and you can go to Capri and the other islands of Procida and Ischia. They're gorgeous. You can go from many areas along the Amalfi Coast and that, Sorrento, is one of them. It's a lovely port there. I think it's an underrated place. I think when everyone goes to the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento is really the gateway, so try to include that. And again, you can just walk along the hotels and go in the lobbies and look at these grand old hotels. It's a wonderful thing to do there.
Sarah Thompson:One of my favorite things to do. Actually, if you're not staying at those beautiful five-star luxury hotels on the cliffside, you can actually go inside them and just mention you're going to the Terrace Bar. They have all these beautiful terraces, terrazza with usually a cocktail bar which you can grab an aperitif to watch the sunset, which is stunning Because from Srenta Coast you see the full sunset over the horizon, while the Amalfi Coast you don't.
Lea Lane:Excellent. I give that as a tip. Often, if you go to someplace where there are beautiful hotels, go in for a drink and you get the pleasure of all those public rooms. Now, the Amalfi Coast is associated with Greek myths about Hercules and Ulysses is associated with Greek myths about Hercules and Ulysses. One legend says that Ulysses survived hearing the siren song on Capri by tying himself to the mast of his ship. The gods of Olympus landed on the Amalfi Coast to well, it wasn't called the Amalfi Coast then, but it was the coast to prevent Ulysses from becoming shipwrecked and that created the rugged cliffs. We're going to start on the section that everybody knows about in the gorgeous, iconic town of Positano. What makes that so special?
Sarah Thompson:Wow, positano. I think it's because I've never have seen a town built like that, built so vertically. The people there are incredible. I've seen 85 year old walking up steps, hundreds of steps a day, with fruit on top of their head, being able to go shopping at a local market, and the scenic, the colors, are just breathtaking.
Lea Lane:It's something to behold. It's beautiful looking at it from a boat below. It's beautiful looking on a step above and below. The beach is gorgeous there. It's rocky, but you have this lovely little beach and you look up. It's just beautiful everywhere. I just like to sit on a terrace and watch it, and I think there are beautiful little hotels and B&Bs that the views are drop-dead gorgeous. You don't have to go to the fancy Serenus or the San Pietro. You can go to almost any B&B and get the same view, and I love the way they bring the bougainvillea vines right indoors, where it's vines.
Sarah Thompson:Yeah, the purple flowers are stunning, absolutely beautiful flowers.
Lea Lane:If you're going to stop along the coast, that would be one of the places I would suggest. Again, there are mobility problems perhaps, and keep that in mind, but just an hour or so there gives you this great feeling of the next town that people stop at. Very often is the town that the coast is named after, amalfi. The town of Amalfi is really the heart of the coast. As I mentioned, it was one of the four powerful maritime republics and it's now one of the most popular towns. What would you check out if you went to Amalfi?
Sarah Thompson:Oh, there's so much to see. Of course there's a beautiful church there, but I actually recommend to walk past the church and keep going further up in Amalfi and you'll see carved out persephes on the cliff side, which are like nativity scenes that are all handmade by local artisans. Well, the artwork that they've used from actual nature on the cliff. It's really really cool and very intricate.
Lea Lane:The artisans who live there are obviously aware of the gorgeous setting and it inspires them all along the way. The museum there, the Museo Arsenale Amalfi, is a medieval shipyard and it's turned into an exhibition space. You have that as well, and you have just this feeling of the Byzantine era. It remains there more than any other place on the coast. The next place that most people would think of on the coast is perched high above the sea, more quiet than the others. Because it's higher up, it's a little harder to get there. It's Ravello. It has stunning views, filled with historic villas and gardens. What do you like about Ravello, beth?
Sarah Thompson:Oh, everyone can define the word luxury differently. No-transcript. Beautiful views, amphitheater looking over the entire coast as the sun rises. It is phenomenal.
Lea Lane:Wow. Well, I like the 13th century Moorish style Villa Ruffalo. It's got beautiful terrace gardens and they have concerts there, I think during the festival, but all through the year. And then there's villa sembrone, which is a medieval style estate perched on a steep outcrop, and it has a beautiful garden. I just think the gardens there are exceptional yeah, they really are.
Sarah Thompson:like all of the villas and palaces there have stunning gardens and they actually filmed original Wonder Woman with Gal Gadot. They actually filmed some of the scenes in Ravello at the gardens.
Lea Lane:Well, I can see why it's blue. You look out, you see blue sky, blue sea, because you're way high up and it's very restful Now along the way. Next is a town that has a very, very nice beach, and that isn't that common. There are lots of beaches, but there aren't long ones, and Maiore is one place. Maiore yeah, yes, tell us about that too.
Sarah Thompson:I think it's absolutely beautiful. I think it's quite similar to Sorrento where it's much more laid back, much more accessible and a little bit larger than some of the other Amalfi Coast towns much more accessible and a little bit larger than some of the other Amalfi Coast towns. From Mayuri you can take the Lemon Path connecting to Minori, which is a sister town, major town and minor town, minori. I think it's so beautiful that Lemon Path. You'll see some local farmers along the way, relaxing activity you can do in.
Lea Lane:Mayuri, is it a difficult hike?
Sarah Thompson:Not as difficult as the Path of Gods, but I would definitely do it if you don't have any mobility issues.
Lea Lane:Lemon trees yes, the Path of the Gods that you mentioned is near Positano. Tell us a little bit about that, because hikers absolutely love it. It's got the views to die for. Of course, it's way above the town. You can come down to Positano from it.
Sarah Thompson:It starts in the town of Bombrano, which is past Positano, and the hike, thankfully, as you start from Bombrano it continues down, so it's not too much of a treacherous hike. But it is not a simple, easy path. There are some rocks and stones you have to hop over or jump over. The trail finishes in the town of Nocele, which is a beautiful little town, a little village above the town of Positano, and right by there you can visit some amazing trattorias and frattorias and restaurants from there. If you're feeling a little bit more adventurous, you can then actually hike down back to Positano, which is like over 500 steps, but your calves will be shaking by the end of it.
Lea Lane:Wow, you deserve a limoncello after that.
Sarah Thompson:Definitely.
Lea Lane:Okay, well, after that, definitely Okay. Well, past Maori is Chitara that stretches along a deep valley with vineyards and citrus groves, and of all the villages on the Coast, Chitara is known for what? the Delichee. (Which is.
Sarah Thompson:The anchovies.
Lea Lane:Yeah, it's. Since the Middle Ages it's developed a strong link with the sea and it's famous for its tuna anchovies. And where would you recommend eating? I'm sure there are wonderful seafood restaurants. Any of the little restaurants along the sea there would be perfect for a lovely lunch. And then we get to an area called Vietre Sul Mare, which is at the end of the Amalfi Coast and it's known for its vibrant ceramics. What are the ceramic patterns that you see? You see them all over the Amalfi Coast, but they're made here.
Sarah Thompson:Bluish, yellow color absolutely beautiful mosaics. Really, you can find all different shapes and sizes, but a lot of them also feature fish symbols around them. Lemons, of course. Lemons are everywhere along the Amalfi Coast, the classic mosaic symbol. Beautiful, and I have some of them in my own kitchen as well.
Lea Lane:If you want a gift, this is the place to go. You could go to the workshops and meet the craftsmen and they'll ship it for you. It's just gorgeous stuff and a lovely way to end, because you take home these wonderful memories in ceramics. So you come then to Salerno, because that's the largest city near the Amalfi Coast at the southern end and it serves as a major transport hub for the area, because, as I mentioned, you probably don't want to go back along the Amalfi Coast to Sorrento or Naples or wherever you're going. You usually take the highway back. How long does that take to drive from Salerno, let's say, to Sorrento or Naples?
Sarah Thompson:I would say about an hour and a half. So ironically, I had to go to Vietrisumare for an event, the Amalfi Coast Cocktail Week, which was a lot of fun, and it was in Vietrisumare at this beautiful event space called Giardino de Fuente. There's a lot of weddings and events that happen there. From Sorrento it was actually quicker to go back towards Naples through the highway and back towards Salerno, coming out to Vietrisumare from behind the cliffs, than it was to go back towards Naples through the highway and back towards Salerno, coming out to Vecchia Sumane from behind the cliffs, than it was to go along the Amalfi Coast Drive.
Lea Lane:How long does it normally take if you're just going to drive along the coast and don't stop and go on the Amalfi Drive? How long would you say to leave from Sorrento to Salerno?
Sarah Thompson:Well, it depends on traffic, but it depends on what month of the season you're coming in. On a good day, on a good day, okay, scooter or car.
Lea Lane:Car, definitely for me, Okay.
Lea Lane:With a car. I would say an hour, 45 minutes more or less, because you definitely want to stop to do some panoramic views. There's some beautiful spots where you can take some photos the Foro di Furore, which is a beautiful archway, and that bridge there is absolutely stunning. So I would say yeah, an hour and 45 minutes, depending how fast you drive.
Lea Lane:Yeah, I had to drive that when I was doing research for the guidebooks and sometimes I had to back up because I was trying to discover places and I'd see it and I'd pass and I'd have to back up on the Amalfi Coast. I can't believe I used to do that all the time. I wouldn't be doing that now, but I wasn't on a scooter. It probably would have been easier on a scooter. Now there are some places I didn't mention along the Amalfi Coast that are very special, but I just want to add in there how about the Grotta dello Smeraldo?
Sarah Thompson:The Grotta dello Smeraldo, the Emerald. Grotto yeah, so a lot of people don't know about this?
Lea Lane:No, I loved it and it really is emerald color. Tell us about it.
Sarah Thompson:Of course, everyone's heard of the Seven Wonders of the World and being the Blue Grotto at Capri. Well, this one is along the Amalfi Coast in between Conca de Marina and Amalfi, I believe and it's a beautiful emerald grotto. You can access it by boat or you can take an elevator from the Amalfi Coast Drive.
Lea Lane:That's what I did. It was very easy. You just get off, come down into this.
Sarah Thompson:Really easy a lot bigger so you don't have to lean back to get into the Grotto like you do in the Azzurro one, and the emerald green color is spectacular. It's definitely something to be seen.
Lea Lane:I thought it would be a tourist trap. You know everybody says things like gorgeous, green, and all you know you go along the road. But no, it was worth it. So if you want a little stop, that's special, that would be one I would recommend you. You also mentioned Fiore di Forare, which is a little area nestled between two sheer rock faces. It's by Positano, is it? Is it near? (Yeah, just after Positano, Forare yeah, There's
Lea Lane:There's a tiny little beach, calm waters and beautiful views from the bridge. There you might even catch some cliff jumpers. You know divers who go there.
Sarah Thompson:Yeah, they used to do the. I believe it was the Red Bull diving competition. They used to do that there. I would never do that. No, no.
Lea Lane:It's hard enough to drive the Amalfi. Coast it's already hard enough to drive. That's enough. The Amalfi Coast, that's enough. Okay, but, and there's one little village that's so tiny, I think it's the tiniest village in Italy. It's considered so and people pass it by. It's just south of Amalfi. I love it. It's called Atrani. Tell us about that.
Sarah Thompson:Oh yeah, atrani. I love Atrani. It's so beautiful. I think it's also another little gem along the Amalfi Coast. One of my favorite beaches is in the Atrani as well.
Lea Lane:It's under a Atrani bridge.
Sarah Thompson:Yeah, the bridge there and you can actually walk in between. It's super lovely. I think Atrani and I would also say Conca de Marini being one of the smallest towns in the Amalfi Coast, one of my two favorites. Also to Conca de Marini, you can only access that by boat or by foot which is crazy.
Lea Lane:It makes it so special because the crowds have come, of course. So I highly recommend if you could do it off season summer is very crowded If you could do it in May or September, October, those would be better if you can manage it, because I guess traffic slows down when it's crowded. That would be the good thing. You have to go maybe a little bit slower to get around, but when I was there this is way back it wasn't yet discovered like today, so you had the opportunity to stop a little and look around and not feel so pushed. I just wanted to mention the food. It's great cheese, great seafood. We mentioned lemons and we mentioned anchovies. Is there any special foods you enjoy on the Amalfi Coast and we?
Sarah Thompson:Oh, I have two actually. One is seafood and --summer is vegetarian-friendly. So--If I I one of my favorite seafoods I like to eat here are the canolicchie, which are razor clams, and I've had them at one of my favorite restaurants in Conca a Marini, La Tonnarella. It's so good I would always. anytime we rent a boat, I would always want to stop there for lunch. My favorite pasta dish, though, has to be the pasta alla nurano, which is the spaghetti with zucchini. It's classic, so good.
Lea Lane:onderful stuff. They produce tomatoes that are wonderful and I my favorite sign, I think of all time, was when I passed a little market and it had a sign for the tomatoes. It said natural Viagra, or Viagra naturale.
Sarah Thompson:Viagra, that's the pepperoncino. That is like the red pepper flakes.
Lea Lane:Yeah, I thought that was so cute. I wasn't expecting that, I just like tomatoes, but it was so charming to come across. Yeah, I remember that. Memories, right. Well, speaking of such, the name of the podcast is Places I Remember. So, Sarah, would you please share with us one of your special personal memories of the beautiful Amalfi Coast?
Sarah Thompson:I have so many and I think one of them has to be when I was on the scooter with my husband, Luigi, who is Italian, from this area, and we're just driving along the coast. The amount of color that you see is absolutely stunning, and we went down to this tiny little beach area that is a natural reserve, so you have to walk there. No boats are allowed there, there's no restaurants, nothing, just rocks and cliffs., This beautiful natural reserve called Jerontal, and just laying back in the water, facing the cliff and thinking this is heaven. How do places on earth exist like this? It's incredible, and every summer when I'm swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, looking back on those cliffs, I always go back to the first time I was there and thinking I'm so lucky to live here.
Lea Lane:You are, but I hope all of us get to enjoy Dolce Far niente, which is just what you're talking about the art of doing nothing, but not really. It's being inspired by your surroundings. We can all stop a while, put away the devices, relax, appreciate the moment as we travel throughout our precious world. Thank you, Sarah, we enjoyed it very much.
Sarah Thompson:Thank you so much. It was a pleasure speaking with you today.
