Lunch as an Itinerary
In southern Italy the table is the destination. A short defence of building the day around one o'clock.
7 minutes
Destination No. 02
Amalfi Coast
A coastline best travelled at the speed of a boat, or of lunch.
Campania, Italy
The Place
The coast rewards the traveller who gives up on seeing all of it.
Everything here is vertical: stairs instead of streets, terraces instead of gardens, lemon groves held up by chestnut poles a hundred years old. It is not a place for itineraries. Choose one town, learn its two good bars, and let the rest arrive by boat.
The famous road is a mistake in July and a pleasure in May. Better still, hire a gozzo for a day and see the coast the way it was built to be seen — from below, with the villages hanging above you like laundry.
Lunch is the main event. It begins at one-thirty, involves more courses than you intended, and ends when the light has moved across the table twice.
When to goMay, and the last two weeks of September
Where to Stay
Maison Voyage recommends
Three houses we have slept in, chosen for how they hold the morning rather than for their star count.
Le Sirenuse, Positano
The Sersale family's house, still run as one. Red walls, majolica, and the best terrace in Italy for the hour before dinner.
Palazzo Avino, Ravello
Above the crowds, in the cooler air. Ravello is where the coast becomes contemplative rather than glamorous.
Casa Angelina, Praiano
White, spare and modern, facing Positano across the bay. For those who want the view without the theatre.
Where to Eat
Tables worth the afternoon
Not the most decorated rooms — the ones we would go back to on the last night.
Lo Scoglio, Marina del Cantone
Arrive by boat, sit on the pier, order the zucchini spaghetti. It has been the right answer for fifty years.
Rossellinis, Ravello
For one long, formal evening with the valley falling away beneath the terrace.
Da Adolfo, Laurito
A shuttle boat with a red fish on the mast, mozzarella grilled on lemon leaves, and no reason to leave before five.
What to Do
Experiences, unhurried
Each of these takes half a day at most, and none of them should be combined with another.
The Path of the Gods, early
Start from Bomerano at seven. Three hours of ridge, sea and terraced vines before the day gets hot.
A gozzo to the Li Galli islands
Swim off the boat, eat on board, come back at the hour when the cliffs turn pink.
A lemon grove in Minori
An hour with a family who have farmed the same terraces for generations. It reframes every limoncello you drink afterwards.
Gallery
Amalfi Coast, in two frames
From the Journal
Longer reading on Amalfi Coast
The Vertical Garden
How chestnut poles, dry stone and centuries of patience turned a cliff into a lemon grove.
11 minutes
Travel Tips
Quiet, practical advice
The three things we wish someone had told us before the first visit.
Travel by water
Ferries link every town from April to October and remove the single worst part of the coast: its traffic.
Pack for stairs
There is no version of Positano that does not involve three hundred steps. Choose shoes accordingly.
Stay three nights minimum
The coast takes a day to arrive in and a day to slow down in. The third day is the one you came for.
An Invitation
Continue the Journey
One letter each month: a place worth the detour, an object worth keeping, a page worth reading slowly. Nothing more.