The Amalfi Coast

A full day of our tour was devoted to an exploration of the Amalfi coast. The plan was to drive along the 50-kilometer road that hugs the coastline from just west of Positano to Vietri sul Mare in the east, taking in the dramatic views. We were hoping to take a boat ride when we reached Amalfi for a different view of the rock formations and cliffside villages.

 

Before we departed from Sorrento at 8am, I had checked the forecast for Amalfi. It mentioned rain but I was cautiously optimistic that the weather wouldn’t interfere with our plans. The autoroute brought us from Sorrento down to the southern coast of the peninsula where we picked up the winding two-lane coastal and marveled at the dramatic views out over the Gulf of Salerno.

Traffic can be a real problem when traveling between the different towns since there is only one coastal road. This road snakes constantly as it follows the contours of the narrow, steep valleys. The valleys are actually limestone canyons, carved by water over millions of years and now filled with lush vegetation. Lodo told us that private buses, like ours, are only allowed to go in one direction (east) on this road. The only bus that can travel in both directions is the public bus.  

 

I was encouraged to see that it wasn’t raining when we approached Positano and made a quick photo stop. I had made a day trip to Positano on my own the day after I arrived in Sorrento. It is one of the oldest towns on the Amalfi coast and it certainly has a picturesque setting – and way too many tourists. Most of the year, they outnumber the 1200 people live in Positano year-round. By mid-January, most of the tourists have left and many shops and restaurants close until tourists return in the spring. 

Although the vistas were beautiful, it was impossible to ignore the serious dark clouds off in the distance, especially in the direction of Amalfi. 

 

Just past Positano, I looked back at the terraced slopes of the town as we drove on to the next town, Praiano. 

We stopped briefly in Praiano to take photos of the Parish Church of San Gennaro (Saint Januarius). Its dome and the spire atop its belltower are covered with majolica tiles. According to Lodo, San Gennaro is the most important saint in the area. 

 

Our next stop on the coast was a shopping opportunity at Conca dei Marini. The huge roadside store was filled with the colorful ceramics that the Amalfi is famous for. I didn’t buy anything, and no photos were allowed in the shop but I took this photo outside. 

Finally, shortly after 11am, we found ourselves looking out over the town of Amalfi.

Amalfi began as a small fishermen’s village and eventually grew into the most important town on coast. During the Middle Ages, Amalfi was one of the four powerful maritime republics on the Italian peninsula, along with Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. From the Moors, who controlled Sicily, the citizens of Amalfi acquired a great deal of knowledge, including how to make paper. The Moorish influence can be seen in Amalfi’s architecture. In the 13th century, the magnetic compass, invented in China, arrived in Europe through Amalfi. 

 

Amalfi became a fashionable resort destination in the 1950s and 60s. Today, the town has a year-round population of 5,000 people and its economy is heavily dependent on tourism. I was looking forward to strolling through the picturesque cliffside town and looking at the architecture as well as taking the boat ride. But faced with dark rain clouds, gusty winds, and rough seas, we were forced to change our plans. In fact, no boats at all were leaving the harbor. Even the ferries were cancelled, leaving many people stranded. 

 

Our original plan called for a return to Sorrento by ferry from Amalfi. Now that this would impossible, Lodo and our driver implemented Plan B, and we drove past Amalfi without stopping.

Soon the rain was lashing against the windows of the bus.

 

Fortunately, a few minutes later, we saw blue skies again.

We stopped when we reached Maiori, a coastal town that was founded by the Etruscans and was later conquered by Rome. Maiori is known for its beach, which is the longest uninterrupted beach on the Amalfi coast. For this reason, it’s popular with Italian families who come to enjoy its relaxed atmosphere.

We began our visit to Maiori with a walk along the seaside promenade. Lodo noted that this beach is where U.S. Navy Seals arrived in September 1943 as part of Operation Avalanche, the Allied landing in Salerno. 

 

We walked into the town to visit the 17^th century Church of San Dominic, where we met with a local resident and learned about Maiori’s World War 2 history. The church was heavily damaged during the war. After the Allied landing, the convent connected to the church was turned into a field hospital for the U.S. Army Rangers, with the sacristy serving as an emergency operating room. The church has a room set up as a gallery where we spent several minutes studying black and white photographs that the document the events of 1943-1944.

After a casual al fresco lunch (pizza Ortolana – with roasted vegetables and mozzarella on plum tomato sauce with a crispy crust), I continued exploring the town. 

 

The walking was easy since the terrain was fairly level. 

I eventually returned to the seaside promenade to watch the waves crashing on the dark sand of the beach. 

The next town along the coast was Cetara. From the bus, we saw the famous majolica-tiled dome and 11th-century bell tower of the Chiesa San Pietro Apostolo. When I saw the colors gleaming so brightly in the sunshine, I sighed and thought, “If only the weather had been like this in Amalfi….” 

 

Although I was disappointed that we had missed the famous coastal resort and the boat ride, I’d gotten an excellent overview of the entire Amalfi coast and I was quite happy that we had spent some time in a much quieter town with “real” people as opposed to tourists.  

After passing Cetara, we got a glimpse of Vietri sul Mare before our bus turned onto Autostrada and headed back up north towards Sorrento. 

 

Back in Sorrento, I had dinner in reverse, i.e. I had gelato first, and then went in search of a main course. I was attracted to this particular gelato shop because of its sign.  

After I walked a while to work up a little more of an appetite, I went to Capri Blu, a casual pizzeria and trattoria a few doors down from our hotel, and ordered ravioli baccala – handmade ravioli filled with baccala (salt cod) and covered with a wonderful mixture of cherry tomatoes, olives, and capers. The combination of flavors thrilled my taste buds.

 

While the day hadn’t gone quite as expected, it had turned out fine in the end. And I was certain the next day, in Naples, would be equally satisfying. 

  

In Lemon Country

This was the day to explore the lemon-filled countryside outside of Sorrento. But there was plenty more on our agenda, and since our group wasn’t scheduled to depart from the hotel until 9am, I used the early morning hours, while the streets were still quiet, to take a walk down to the Marina Grande. In other words, I was going to retrace the steps I took on my misguided walk in search of the ferry to Capri a few days earlier. It was not only to prove to myself that I now knew where I was going. It was also because I wanted to take some photos of the picturesque route. 

 

Walking through the pedestrian shopping area, reminders of lemons were inescapable.

 

On the via Torquato Tasso, not far from the main square, I noted the interesting looking façade of a small church, the 17^th century Church of Saints Felice and Baccolo, sometimes called the Chiesa del Rosario. 

When I reached Victory Square, I stopped to take in the sweeping views of the Marina Grande below.

 

Then the descent began.

Once I’d accomplished my goal, I had to tackle the steep return.

 

I actually made it back to Victory Square, at the level of the town center, in well under 10 minutes.

 

Now, I felt ready for our day’s official activities. As our bus headed west along the coast, we got our first glimpse of the Lattari Mountains, sometimes described as the backbone of the Sorrentine peninsula. The name is a reference to the milk-producing cows and goats that have grazed here over the centuries. The limestone mountains drop dramatically down to the water. Typical vegetation is Mediterranean scrub and beech forest. The many little villages in the mountains are connected by hiking trails.

From the bus, we could already see the island of Capri in the distance.

The area we were traveling through is known as the Massa Lubrense. Our first stop was in the quiet village of Termini where we learned about the production of limoncello at the Nastro d’Oro distillery. Of course, we also tasted several different varieties of their liqueurs. Several of my fellow travelers purchased bottles to bring home.

 

Cheesemaking has traditionally been an important activity in this area. To learn about cheesemaking, we drove to the Tenuta Pierose dairy farm in the Massa Lubrense. The Cacace family has owned and operated the agricultural property for four generations, since 1912. They belong to a coop of ten producers. 

It was quite windy up at an elevation of 1440 feet. However, it didn’t seem to bother the cows. We learned that the herd includes eight Vaca Agerolese cows, a heritage breed native to the Lattari Mountains. Their milk, which is very high in protein and fat, is used to make Provolone del Monaco, a semi-hard, stretched-curd cheese which was originally made by local monks. Since it has DOP status, production of Provolone del Monaco is tightly controlled. The cheese can only be made in 13 towns on the peninsula and the cows can only eat non-GMO hay. 

The farm also produces other cheeses, including fior di latte (balls of mozzarella made from cows’ milk), caciocavallo (a tear-drop shaped stretched curd cheese), and boconcinni (bite-size balls of mozzarella). We went inside to see a master cheesemaker demonstrate how to make fior di latte. She had already done the first step, i.e. separating the curds from the whey by heating the milk and then adding an acid. As she gently stirred the mixture, it started to separate into solid white curds and liquid whey. While we watched, she showed us how she stretched the curds and then squeezed it into balls. 

This is one of the oval-shaped Provolone del Monaco cheeses the farm produces. It weighs about six pounds and requires about 55 liters of milk. According to DOP regulations, the cheese must be aged between six and eighteen months.

 

After tasting a couple of different cheeses and three varieties of local honey (multi-flower, chestnut, and apple blossom), we dined on pasta with tomato sauce and grated provolone accompanied by homemade red wine. The dessert was a delicious tart of ricotta and amarena cherries (cherries bottled in a rich syrup).

It was so peaceful at the farm, and such a contrast to the touristy towns on the peninsula, that I hated to leave.

 

Our next activity, back at the hotel in Sorrento, was an hour-long presentation about the Italian Mafia. The presenter, an Italian journalist, told us how it had originated and how it evolved over time. In fact, he shared so much information so quickly that I couldn’t keep up with my note-taking. Here are a few things that I managed to write down. 

 

There are three different criminal organizations in southern Italy:  the Cosa Nostra in Sicily, established in the 1860s; the ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria (the tip of the boot), in the 1880s; and the Camorra in Naples, established in 1820. 

 

Each organization has a distinct structure. The organization controls the economy of a particular territory by demanding protection money from local businesses (in other words, through extortion). In addition, the organizations are involved in legal businesses, such as the distribution of goods, the building industry, and the waste cycle. They also have secret agreements with corrupt public officials at all levels.  

 

Our presenter stated that “violence is the investment capital of the Mafia.” In other words, the Mafia intimidates people through the threat of violence, which allows the criminal organizations to manage businesses and thereby extend their control. 

 

International drug trafficking is now the main business of the Mafia. In order to “launder” the revenue from this illegal activity, the Mafia establishes companies all over the world, creating a multi-layered web that makes it difficult to trace the source of the money. 

 

Mafia activities have a huge impact on Italy’s economy. Seven to ten percent of the country’s GNP is related to the activities of three criminal organizations. 

 

Perhaps I was naïve, but I had never thought the Mafia’s influence was so pervasive nowadays. I couldn’t help wondering if all the shop owners in Sorrento had to pay protection money to the Camorra. I’d definitely think about that next time I'm in a gelato shop. 

 

Shortly after the presentation ended, we headed out into the countryside again for a “lemony experience.” Our destination was a family owned orchard for a tour of the lemon groves and a lemon-themed dinner. 

 

Four generations of the Galano family have owned and managed the lemon farm. With a family member to guide us, we made our way through a virtual forest of lemon trees. The actual total is 1500 lemon trees and an additional 300 olive trees in the six hectare (nearly 15 acre) grove.

Our guide called our attention to the pergolas, made of wood or metal and covered with netting, that protect the trees from damaging hail. The black tubes that were running up above the trees were part of the irrigation system.

 

Under a canopy of trees, we looked at different varieties of lemons and learned about the grafting process. Different varieties of lemons mature at different rates. Our guide pointed out one plant on which three different kinds of lemons were growing. On other plants, both lemons and limes or lemons and oranges were growing. The fruit is hand-picked three times a year by a team of six workers who climb up on ladders to reach the highest growing fruit.

Here’s a tip our guide shared: When you’re shopping for a lemon, you should look for one with the leaf attached. This serves as visual evidence that the fruit is freshly hand-picked. 

 

Since it wasn’t harvesting time, the work crew (guest workers from Senegal who live on the property) were busy in the indoor processing building. We watched as a specialized machine peeled a truckload of lemons and then another machine (invented by a family member) squeezed the lemons for their juice. The family guards the technology they have developed and didn’t allow us to take photos of the processing.  

 

About three years ago, the family added a lemon-oriented restaurant to the property. Our dinner began with lemon risotto garnished with lemon leaf powder. The main course was sea bream with a topping of shredded potato and crispy lemon peel, accompanied by spinach. Along with the meal, we drank a regional white wine called Falanghina Pompeiano.

The most impressive course was the dessert, called Delizia del Limone. This celebration of the lemon, which was invented in 1978, is famous all along the Amalfi and Sorrento coasts. It’s a dome of light sponge cake with a center of lemon pastry cream. The cake is soaked in Limoncello syrup and covered with a lemon glaze. All of it, including the decorative flowers, was edible and was grown on the farm. And yes, it tasted as good as it looked. Definitely try it if you’re ever in this part of Italy.