Exploring Campania - Sorrento, Amalfi & Positano

John Steinbeck once wrote that 'Positano bites deep' and it does. The same is true of all this stretch of Campanian coastline. Heading out of the city of Naples and travelling south along the coastal road, the landscape opens up as the road winds along the riviera and then turns inland towards Mount Vesuvius. With the dormant volcano climbing on your left and the azure blue sea on your right, you find yourself thundering through the first of three deep tunnels carved into the cliffside - after a series of switchbacks and hairpins the road opens up again to reveal the bay of Sorrento with its quaint fishing harbours and clifftop hotels.


I have had a love affair with Italy since I first visited Sorrento years ago - the slow-winding pace of life, the streets and the people, the architecture, the food and drink. All of it. I recently returned to Sorrento and took in Positano and Amalfi for the first time and found that Steinbeck was right, "It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you've gone."

In Sorrento, the narrow, cobbled and crowded streets contrast with the wide open, breath taking views of the bay of Naples. There are scores of restaurants and bars spilling out into Piazzas and in the centre at night, the pavements are bustling with street vendors and American tourists on the Grand Tour. But turn your attention to the backstreets or the early morning and you will be rewarded with empty alleys and the steady pace of local life. The abandoned flour mill sitting in a deep, scarred valley just off the main square is a sight to behold bereft of tourists and traffic. 

There is a wealth of places to eat in the heart of Sorrento but you should avoid the crowded and expensive Piazza Tasso and slip down the side streets to find the real Italian cucinas. Seafood is hours-fresh and the Pasta is the best you'll ever taste, especially in the courtyard of Cafe Latino just off Corso Italia. For drinks, visit the roof top bar of Hotel La Favourita on Via Torquato Tasso and make it a Negroni. 

If you can, take a hotel right on the cliffside to enjoy the view of Vesuvius and the cool breeze coming in off the gulf of Naples. During the final days of the second World War these hotels, commandeered by the Allies, played host to British and American soldiers ready to rotate back to the world. All Grand Palazzos, effortless in their dedication to the Italian tradition of Sprezzatura and to the roots of the neo-classical style. Sorrento isn't known for its beaches but private jetties are easy to find and any hotel on the clifftop should have beach access for guests, usually via an elevator bored into the cliff or several steep flights of stairs. 

To make the most of a trip to Campania you should visit the archaeological sites of either Herculaneum or Pompeii, both reachable by the Circumvesuviana railway that runs between Naples and Sorrento. If you're not used to railway travel though, this might be a bit of eye opening experience; the carriages are hot and often very busy with a mix of tourists, locals and beggars compounded by a typically Italian attitude to timetables. Of the two, Pompeii is the must see - a sprawling site worthy of a full day's exploration, although best avoided in the heat of July and August as shade is in short supply. Herculaneum is smaller but better preserved and can be seen entirely in an hour or two.

From the harbour you can take a boat and cut across the gulf southwards towards Positano and Amalfi, past the secret beach of Relais Regina Giovanna and make for the headland where Mussolini's house still stands atop the rising jagged bluff. Turn port side as you round the point and you're met with ever growing steep volcanic cliffs that tumble down to the sapphire blue Mediterranean. Towards the sea, a handful of private Islands come into view. The first and grandest, Li Galli, is the former home of Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. In its harbour, yachts anchor to monopolise on the natural cove for swimming and diving as pleasure boats jet past full of young Americans en route to their next party.

Hugging the coastline, you'll chance upon secluded and private beaches deep in the cliffs and ornate stone bridges above them spanning ravines that support the Amalfi coast drive. The arched bridge over the Furore fjord hosts an international diving competition where each year competitors come to experience the 28 meter free fall into the water below. Rounding the next strut of headland you'll turn into the bays of Positano and Amalfi with their colourful tapestries of old and new architecture sprawling up the cliffside in hues of dusty reds and faded ochres.

Stepping off the boat, the harbours are crawling with tourists but if you make for the side streets and up the ancient steps into the old town you cut out the traffic jams and the bottlenecks. As you climb higher, the views open up one by one - out and back over towards Capri and then down onto the harbour where dozens of ships cut in and out of the bay. 

If you're new to Italy, Sorrento is the perfect place to start your adventure. Its proximity to the Amalfi coast and Capri make it the ideal base for exploring the Campania region. The food, wine and views are hard to beat and the 3 hour flight from the UK makes this the ultimate holiday destination for me. Look out for more detailed posts on some of the places mentioned above in the coming weeks.

- Keep listening.