Week of August 24th, 2015

• Friday August 21st: Venerdí. The only reason I can keep track of what day of the week it is is because of the rugs the Hotel thoughtfully changed every day in the Hotel elevator. So today is Venerdi.

You may ask why we choose to stay in a village requiring an Everest-like trek to the beach ever day.  Well, it's so as to work off a few small indulgences.

Ice cream counter, Buca di Bacco.

Week of August 17th, 2015

Monday, August 17th: The San Pietro Hotel. About 10 km outside Positano, the Hotel San Pietro sits perched upon a rocky cliffside.  The lush and verdant grounds are a perfect hideaway for its guests (like Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk) to enjoy privacy. The Hotel's most wonderful aspect is perhaps the elevator built into the rock that whisks guests away to a private beach down below.  The 90-second ride through solid rock is not for the claustrophobic, nor the faint of heart!

One of the Hotel's Terraces

Detail of inlaid tile work on a stone bench

Il Fornillo. Physicists like to say What goes up must come down. But in Positano, a more apt saying is What you go down, you must come up again. case in point, a staircase to the nearby Il Fornillo beach.

It is a ten minute hike, amidst very wild scenery punctuated by towers.

But it is all worth it to have lunch on the beach at this lovely spot.

Bar Bagni da Puppetto.

Next to this Face!

Michelangelo eating bread.

It is a good thing I fortified myself with lunch, so I am ready to face the trip back. Here is the same staircase, seen from the bottom.

Week of August 10th, 2015

• Monday, August 10th: Lemon Grove Tour. We took a boat to Amalfi and visited one of the area's oldest and most ilustrious family-owned lemon groves.  The lemons from this farm are used to make some of the most delicious Limoncello liqueur around. The owner maintains the highest standards of organic farming and his family has done much to preserve the traditional methods of lemon tree raising and maintenance.

Lemon grove

La Valle dei Mulini, Amalfi

Vilma enjoying lemon cake

Our tour group

A bus stop in Amalfi

Leaving Amalfi

• Monday, August 10th: La Notte di San Lorenzo (Night of the Shooting Stars).  This evening typically has the highest number of shooting stars visible. It is a longstanding tradition in Positano that young people go to the beach and stay up until the wee hours eating pizza and watching out for shooting stars.  Instead of shooting stars, we saw a wonderful lightning display over the sea, as a big storm front rolled in.

• Tuesday, August 11th: The highlight of the day was the birdbath full of risotto al burro e parmigiano that I ordered for dinner. Granted, it almost put me in a food coma, but it was delicious! Also wonderful was seeing an old friend, Carla Mastro at her family's beautiful store. We have known her father, Antonio de Luise for over 40 years! Mastro carries beautiful creations in linen designed by her husband and sold by her charming son, Ivan. If you are ever in Positano, check it out.

• Wednesday, August 12th: The day started for me at 5:45am with an impromptu Dawn Concert by a large brass orchestra featuring music from Swan Lake, Carmen and something by Verdi or Souza. It was hard to tell with all the tubas. The highlights of the day were an afternoon swim off Li Galli Islands and The Shrimp Tower for dinner.  It's a tower, made of Sicilian prawns, balanced precariously on top of a toast with baby shrimp tartare. What's not to love...

• Thursday, August 13th: Music on the Rocks.  Today was the birthday of a dear friend of long-standing, Martina. We celebrated on an idyllic rooftop crowning the seaside disco, Music on the Rocks, where we spent many an evening over the years.

• Friday, August 14th: La Vigilia. The eve of Ferragosto is a very important day in Italy. I know that because I awakened to another brass band and an excess of bell ringing in honor of La Santa Vergine Maria Assunta. It is the day when they raise (a replica) of a medieval painted icon of the Madonna and fly it between the church tower and the western side of the bay.

Week of August 3rd, 2015

At last the time for my annual pilgrimage to Positano is here. It is one of the most beautiful towns on Italy's Amalfi Coast and has been a second home to me since I was 3 years old. As a result, the event listings may be hard for New Yorkers to attend :-)
I suppose this will become more of a travel blog than an event listing, until September. Have a wonderful month!

• Thursday, August 6th: Leave for Italy. If you can fit in my suitcase, you are welcome to come!