The city of stairs
The boys shipped back off to America, my mom Shiloh and I finally began our day journey to Positano!
We woke up early in our hotel in Rome, popping downstairs for a complimentary breakfast. Leisurely talking about our plans over some (incredible!) omelettes, fruit, and espressos, I glanced down at the time on my phone. Our train left for Salerno at 8:52, where we’d catch the ferry to Positano. It was already 8:10. And we were still a 20-minute drive from the train station.
Jumping out of our seats, Shiloh and I sprinted upstairs for our bags, as a series of unfortunate events unfolded in succession. For whatever reason, the elevator took ages to arrive, and when we finally reached the lobby, I realized my passport was still behind the front desk. We had to wait for the concierge to locate it before taking off with our luggage to run to the car. What we had forgotten was that our rental car was parked half a mile away, and Rome’s cobblestone streets were not designed with our rolling suitcases in mind.
Finally arriving at the car, Shiloh had to 12-point-turn out of our street spot, seeing as Italians don’t have much consideration for boundaries, especially when it comes to parking. We sped on to the road, hoping to make up time in the drive to the train station—no luck. It just so happened to be traffic hour in Rome, and our ETA was set at 8:50. As we drove, we came to terms with the reality that we would probably miss our train. I started looking up later options, but none of the later trains were nonstop, and it’d take much longer to get us to the ferry. Deciding to just try for our train, we mentally prepared to do whatever it took. Pulling into the station’s parking lot with just 5 minutes until the train left, we parked in the only open space we could find: an electric vehicle spot. (What? The rental car was an EV…). Leaving our roller bags behind, we each grabbed the overnight bag we had packed and booked it to the “Uscita” signs, discovering rows of hallways, each with a staircase leading down to somewhere we could only hope was near the train station. Picking a stairwell at random, we ran down two flights of stairs… and popped out on a train platform.
3 minutes until our train left, and we somehow had arrived ON the platform. No security, no ticket check. Our staircase magically fed us out into the middle of the Rome Termini station. We found and jumped on our train not a minute before it started moving, laughing at the impossibility of what had just happened.
As we walked through train car after train car (we of course had managed to get on at the opposite end from our seats), our travel anxiety dissolved; we were going to Positano! We took a quick nap on the train, getting off with just enough time to run (yes, actually run) to the Salerno ferry port. We sailed along the Amalfi Coast, the breeze and salty air replacing any remaining stress we had.
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Of course, I can’t neglect to share what I was reading this whole time. Some time ago, I bought a random book off a sale table solely because of its title. One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle sat unread on my TBR shelf for almost a year. Until recently, when my mom called me up at college to tell me she’d just finished the book and was planning a trip to Positano as soon as possible. Now, on our way to Positano, I began reading the book myself. 30-year-old Katy just lost her mother, her best friend in the world. Completely lost, Katy decides to take the trip to Positano that she and her mom had booked together. She would visit all the places her mom always talked about, from the summer she went to Italy before Katy was born. But while there, Katy discovers more about her mom and herself than she expected. This book’s vivid descriptions painted a beautiful picture of the beachside town my mom and I got to stay in. The book was witty, charming, and romantic, playing with magical realism while touching on harder subjects such as loss. I will say, the resolution to the plot left me with a few questions, but all in all, I really enjoyed this read and would recommend it for the scenery alone!
We arrived in Positano around noon, where a porter service offered to bring our bags up to the hotel for just €10. Now fully free to enjoy our afternoon, we headed to the beach club at Spiaggia di Fornillo, the first beach we found that wasn’t super crowded. We were imagining sipping on some iconic Limoncello spritzes and lying by the beach—and we weren’t disappointed. Mamadou, the absolute angel running the beach club, gave my mom and me a full tour of their facilities before taking us to the best seats they had to offer, right on the water.
For hours, Shiloh and I rotated between our chairs and the ocean, reading and tanning, then dipping in the warm, clear water. We grabbed lunch at a beachfront seafood place, Ristorante La Marinella, before immediately returning to our lounge chairs. Finally, after the perfect afternoon (probably ever), we started the trek up to our hotel.
The maps said it was only a mile—easy walk, right? Wrong. Don’t let Positano’s cutesy, colorful buildings fool you. Hidden within the adorable little city is a treacherous leg workout just waiting for unknowing tourists like ourselves to fall victim to it. After what felt like an hour (okay, yes, I’m being dramatic, but Shiloh and I walk a lot, and even we struggled), we arrived at the hotel, collapsing on the bed, calves already sore.
After vegging and reading for a bit, we showered and got ready for dinner, then prepared to walk back down all those steps. In the town, we grabbed drinks at Le Sirenuse (the hotel from the movie Only You!) and took in the view of the gorgeous Amalfi coast. Every hour in Positano seemed to cast the city in a new light, painting its beauty in a million different colors. Needless to say, I was utterly obsessed.
A bus picked us up to take us to La Tagliata, the same restaurant Katy eats at in One Italian Summer. After taking one look at my stunning mother, the waiter brought us to his favorite table, where we had the perfect view of the sun setting over the city. He informed us that their menu was preset each day to serve whatever fresh ingredients they had on hand. For almost two hours we were served plate after plate of incredible food straight from their garden, including both cold and hot vegetable appetizers, four different pastas, six different cuts of meat, and multiple slices of cake straight from their bakery. By the end of the experience, we were absolutely stuffed, and absolutely exhausted. The restaurant’s bus took us back to our hotel, where we thankfully didn’t have to use our calves again for the night. We got ready for bed, since we had an early taxi back to Rome to catch our next flight. But given the chance, I’d go back to Positano again and again, no question.
Books Read:
One Italian Summer - 4/5 rating
Italy Recommendations (in the summer!)
Positano: 2 nights minimum (we didn’t get long enough!!), 11/10 rating
