For some reason, when I think of the Amalfi Coast, I think of the 1960s. I think this has something to do with the end of the Golden Era of Hollywood, and the associated celebrities, presidential wives, and British Royalty visiting this picturesque part of Italy. I would say that not much has changed, but really I have no idea. But looking back at photos from the era, it does indeed appear that not much at all has changed. The expanse of the 1960s is obvious, but many developments are in keeping with the existing look.
Amalfi itself has been a popular tourist destination for centuries. Monasteries were converted to hotels as early as the 19th Century. In the 1920s and 1930s, Amalfi was a popular holiday destination for the British upper class and aristocracy, and thus it’s embedded as a luxurious destination in the British psyche.
We had checked the weather forecast in the days before the holiday, and were rather shocked. Two weeks of constant rain predicted. Fortunately, the forecast changed completely, and I think we had one shower, and one morning of rain. The latter as on the day we headed to Amalfi, which worked out quite nicely. We had cappuccino and cornetto (not what you think) for breakfast at the piazza at the steps of the Duomo di Amalfi. You can make out an umbrella and hooded subject in the lower portion of my photo.
We mooched up and down the hill, in and out of various shops, then grabbed some delicious gelato. I ended up learning quite a bit about gelato vs ice cream; though the Italian word for “ice cream” is indeed “gelato”, they are not the same thing. Gelato has a higher density due to the difference in mixing (and slight difference in ratio of ingredients) and thus melts slower than “ice cream”. English (and American) ice cream is a different animal to gelato. A lot of the ice cream I’ve had in Switzerland and Germany has indeed been gelato, and the closeness to Italy is apparent. Sorbet is a whole other discussion.
We then headed to the beach, which was busy but not too busy. Had a little dip in the sea. Generally chilled. There were the odd groups of Chinese tourists rather amusingly obviously taking photos of girls in bikinis, but what can you do? If I caught their eye, it was obvious that I was displeased with their actions, but such tourists are usually unaware of their actions. There was something of a “zoo” feeling about having fully clothed Chinese taking photos of all the Europeans on the beach, but this is 2019, so there we go.
It was then time to hit the supermarket on the way back up to the villa more central to the peninsula. Driving in Italy requires one hand arm out of the window, so steering and gear changes with one hand become something of a workout. Then there’s the horn, which may as well be attached to the accelerator pedal. Four wheel drifting in a Fiat 500 S is possible, in case you were wondering. Without turning this into a car review, the Fiat 500 S [Diesel] has an awful, laggy, unresponsive turbo Diesel engine, paired with offset pedals and an extremely light steering rack. The seat belt is in a terrible position and really dug into my neck, so I tended to wear it underneath my left shoulder.
Apart from that, it was a peach.
It would have been much nicer to have been driving the Zurich-licenced car below, the new Alpine A110 (from Renault, if you’re interested). I’m quite the petrolhead, so there’s a lot to like about this car. Lightweight and all the right bits for a proper driver’s car… except manual gearbox. But again, it’s 2019, so if you want a driver’s car with a gearstick… there’s not much choice.
