5 Passports: The Amalfi Coast

This week it was off to the Amalfi Coast. After the 5-hour car ride from the east coast to west, we arrived at our new apartment in Praiano. Praiano is a small village right between Positano and Amalfi, the two best-known towns along this famous coast. While it’s only about 4 miles to either one, we budget a good 20 minutes to get to either, as the road along the entire coast is a curvy nightmare. We’ve had to back up and pull forward to let other cars and buses squeeze through tight spots on several occasions, and this is supposed to be slow season. The road was constructed in 1860 and they definitely didn’t have 21st century transportation in mind when building it. For this reason alone, we prefer the quaint, traffic-free villages of the Cinque Terre. Once you escape the transportation issues though, the vertical landscape here offers some really amazing panoramas.
Surprisingly, the little town of Amalfi (for which the coast is named) was actually one of the four Italian maritime powers. (The others were Genoa, Pisa and Venice.) Then in 1343, while their power was already on the decline, a freak tidal wave finished off their fleet. Five years later the plague struck and Amalfi became nothing more than a regular little fishing village. The coast was rediscovered as a tourist destination in the 19th century, and they’ve been coming in droves ever since.

This is our home base of Praiano. Our apartment was in the upper left corner of town.

Cole's always on the lookout for pirates.

Amalfi Town

The first paper in Europe was supposedly made in Amalfi. It was and still is a vital industry in the area. We visited this 13th century factory for a demonstration of the old techniques and Cole even got to make his own sheet. The vat in front of him is full of water and cotton fibers (from pulverized old rags). The screen Cole is holding is used to pick up the fibers, which after drying become the sheet of paper. Later the paper is dipped into a paste-like gel made of ground-up fish scales, which give it a final seal.

Hand-made ceramics are a big business here.

Another thing you see everywhere is the limoncello. We visited a small manufacturer in Ravello who spoke as if he were embarrassed at how easy this liquor is to make. Of course everyone has there own recipe and twists, but you simply add lemon rinds to pure alcohol and let it sit for 1 week. After that you add the alcohol to a mixture of water and sugar and presto, you have limoncello. And it’s not just lemons…mandarin oranges produce Mandarino, raspberries make Raspicello, strawberries make Fragolino, wild fennel makes Finocchieto, walnuts make Nocello, prickly pears make Nanassino, and the list goes on and on. But at 30+% alcohol, you can only try so many.