After our time in Roma, we picked up our sporty little rental car and headed down to Sorrento. Sorrento is known for limoncello, but also being in proximity to Naples, has very good pizza. We spent two nights there and enjoyed the food and the sights.

The pizza was fantastic (we recommend Franco), the pasta was tasty, and we were introduced to the second best pastry in the world (next to cannoli, of course): sfogliatelle (“svoy-a-tella”), which has layers and layers of thin pastry shaped in a triangle. It’s stuffed with a ricotta filling with candied orange peels. Yum! Apparently it comes from Naples, but you can find it in Sorrento due to proximity.

One of the things we did in Sorrento is visit the big cathedral, which was one of my favorites we’ve seen so far in Italy. The decorations were beautiful and it felt very passionate and genuine. We couldn’t take photos inside, but if you go to Sorrento, don’t skip it!

We also took our car and visited a local town up in the hills called Sant’Agata sui Due Golfi. We bought some sliced meats from a local salumeria and some bread from a panneteria and made a sandwich which we enjoyed in the town square while people watching.

We visited this town specifically because we wanted to visit a monastery there, Monastero di San Paulo, which has views of Capri as well as Vesuvius and Naples. The building was closed when we got there, but we were able to wander around the grounds and still take in the views.

The next day, we caught the ferry to Capri. We stayed in the smaller town of Anacapri, which requires a 25 min bus ride from the port. After checking into our Airbnb, we had a very disappointing meal at the only open restaurant in town (recommended by our hosts). Being in Italy in the low season has been very challenging. Many places aren’t open and if they are, they are only open specific days or hours, so we have done a lot of wandering around to find something that’s not even open! We decided we’d cook for ourselves the rest of our time on Capri.

The following day we hiked to the highest peak on Capri – Monte Solaro. We brought a picnic with us and enjoyed the view before heading back down.

We then visited one of the gems of Capri, Villa San Michele. This Villa was owned by a successful doctor and author, Axel Munthe. He donated it to Capri after his death to improve relations between Italy and his home country of Sweden. It had cool artwork and beautiful views and we enjoyed it more than we expected.

Next we rode the bus into the town of Capri, where we wandered around and felt a bit disappointed by the town. Not much was open and we were tired from our hike. I think if it had been shoulder season, it would’ve been more enjoyable. We enjoyed some gelato before heading back to Anacapri.

The following day we rode the ferry back to Sorrento to pick up our car before heading to Positano. Boy were we in for a surprise! Positano is gorgeous and was definitely the most beautiful town on the Amalfi coast. Our Airbnb was well located and we had a balcony with a view of the sea and the town. It was awesome. The sad part is that Shawn picked up my sickness (I was sick in Rome and Sorrento), so we didn’t get to do everything we planned for Positano. We did walk around town a bit on our first day though.

The biggest thing we were planning was to hike up to the top of the canyon to do the “Walk of the Gods”, which is supposed to be the most beautiful hike in the area. Shawn had a fever so we decided to take it easy for the day. He slept and I did take some time to wander around town. Sometimes it’s good for us to recharge a bit anyway.

After two nights in Positano, we got back in the car and drove the Amalfi coast. We stopped in Ravello based on recommendations from a few people, but unfortunately most everything was closed. We then continued down the coast, enjoying the views before arriving in Salerno.

We had two nights in Salerno and it happened to be Carnivale, so we got to sort of experience the holiday with the locals. This basically consisted of everyone in town walking along the waterfront promenade with kids in costumes. It was fun to experience, but also kind of sad to see the amount of trash created from confetti and silly string and all the packaging. Many of it got dumped on the streets and on the beach.

The next morning we got up and walked all over Salerno. We had wanted to go to the Botanic Gardens, but got there and it was closed (surprise surprise). We had another yummy salami sandwich for lunch and walked along the promenade.

We were a bit underwhelmed by Salerno. In hindsight, I don’t think we would’ve stayed there, but instead chosen a more interesting town on the way to Sicily. We felt like there wasn’t much to see and not much was open. It would be nice for a quick one-night stopover or afternoon, but two days was too long. So, after two nights in Salerno, we headed down to Sicily, which we’ll tell you about next!