Amalfi Coast Drive: Part Paradise - Part Hell

A disturbing painting of Vesuvius on the wall at Le Cicale.

"We Three" on the terrace at Le Cicale.

Yesterday we got out of Naples as fast as we could... the Interstrada got us past Mount Vesuvius (the top was in the clouds) and helped get us to the mountain pass that took us to the Amalfi Coast and La Cicale, our apartment above the Tyrrhenian Sea for the next three days. The roads up were very curvy with more and more switchbacks bringing us to higher altitudes. The rugged mountains and cliffs amazed us. Then the hill villages came... where the real people of Amalfi do their living... and shopping. We took advantage and stopped for bread, pasta, butter, eggs and various supplies. The shopkeepers were very sweet, helpful and friendly even considering the language barrier.

We got to Cicale and no one was there at first... so we called. Then Stefania (Lucas calls her "with the hairy armpits") showed up and took a while to show us around. It was odd, she spent too much time showing us each and every room, nook and cranny. She seemed on the nosy side.  (We were tired and just wanted to cook a meal, eat and hit the sack.) After about half an hour, I managed to get her to leave us in peace in our new apartment.

Cicale is amazing... 2000 feet above the sea, a private balcony on each bedroom and our own terrace overlooking the sea. The views are breathtaking.  You look our over the glistening Tyrrhenian and barely see the horizon blending into the sky. There is a view down into our cut in the mountains into the Furore Fiord and the amazing bridge that travels over it. The Fiord is a jagged cut out of the mountain that has a little sandy beach under the bridge.

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There is a fully equipped kitchen (with oven), bath and shower, two big bedrooms and tons of decorative Amalfi tile (they're known for ceramics and lemons here). Two large shuttered patio doors lead our onto our private terrace. A great place to eat and watch the sea. Each bedroom has double doors that lead out onto private Juliet balconies. However, as usual, there is spotty Internet, spotty water heater, no ice cube trays and no air conditioning here... although sleeping should be cool with the shutters and sea breezes. I'd hate to stay here in summer, though. Unlike our last place, Cicale came with a nice assortment of coffee, tea jams, breads and basic kitchen spices. And we went shopping before we got here so we are ready to cook!

Night time fell and so did we...

The next morning I awoke to a glistening sea sunrise, the smell of more olive prunings being burned, an old neighbor on the terraced house below us coming out and picking tomatoes, the beep beep of cars going around the downhill curve we are on, wall climbing lizards and flowering bougainvillea. We had jam, honey, nutella, sweet bread and cornettos for collatzione and headed out into paradise--at least it LOOKS like paradise...

Lisa was beside herself with each curve and near miss I maneuvered. Most roads are at the edge of cliffs 500-2000 feet high above the sea, with either a low stone wall or a weak looking metal fence between us and going airborne. Sure, I have an automatic, which helps, but it's a very wide car for these roads. There are times when oncoming cars force you so far over to the wall or cliff face that my parking collision sensor alarms trip off.

By the way, even though it seems like the Italians are driving at breakneck speeds, it's really slow going on the Amalfi Coast. Even though the entire Coast Road from the Masse Lubrense mountain to Salerno is only about 30 miles, it could easily take you 3 hours to travel the whole thing (more in the stagnant summer traffic). This is what makes these crazy, speeding, careless Italian drivers even more ridiculous. Even though their mindset is as if they are in the Mille Miglia or Grand Prix, their average speed on the Coast Road is about 10 miles an hour. Speed like crazy 'til you hug the next car's rear bumper... then wait a minute or three until... yes... pass him on the next curve! Bravo! Ok... now the next rear bumper...

While the driving is the hell in this paradise, the views are astounding. I just can't look for too long while I'm driving. Still, this place is one of the most beautiful I've ever been to. The architecture, the tiled domes on the churches, the rugged cliffs above, the terraced olive and lemon groves, the rocky shoreline and sea below and the castle towers on just about every promontory. In places it's like I've walked right into a Maxfield Parrish painting. The driving. Well, the driving is hell. I love driving curvy roads, but it's not so much the roads as dealing with the drivers here. First of all, I am SO glad I have an automatic for Amalfi driving. One less thing to think about while maneuvering on roads barely wide enough for a Fiat 500, no less huge buses. Our Volvo SUV is way to wide for comfort here. I wish I had gotten a Fiat 500L like I had originally reserved. Most roads have dangerous curves and drastic changes in altitude via switchbacks... on one road alone I counted six hairpin switchbacks bringing up over a thousand feet. Some of the hairpin turns are so sharp that the turning circle of the Volvo can barely make it across both lanes. And the drivers... they are crazy! Pazzo! The locals go speeding around blind curves, crossing over lines (if there are any lines),  hugging your rear and passing where there isn't space to pass--and on curves, too! The motorcyclists and  scooters are even worse. They ride right down the middle as it it's another invisible lane. People are in the habit of beeping several times when going around blind curves. There are also convex mirrors on lots of turns but they don't help much.

And then there are the tourist buses. I read once that these buses are narrow--specially built for narrow Italian roads like the Coast Drive. Nonsense. These are huge. Some are like those monster buses you see taking rock groups on tours in the States. I also read that--for safety--they only went one direction on the Coast Road. Again.. nonsense. I've seen them going both ways, so it's possible you have a bus tailgating you while another is trying to come in the opposite direction taking up more than one lane. I've even seen tandem trailers on the Amalfi Coast Road.  How they get through the very tight one lane villages is beyond me. 

Lisa was beside herself with each curve and near miss I maneuvered. Most roads are at the edge of cliffs 500-2000 feet high above the sea, with either a low stone wall or a weak looking metal fence between us and going airborne. Sure, I have an automatic, which helps, but it's a very wide car for these roads. There are times when oncoming cars force you so far over to the wall or cliff face that my parking collision sensor alarms trip off.

By the way, even though it seems like the Italians are driving at breakneck speeds, it's really slow going on the Amalfi Coast. Even though the entire Coast Road from the Masse Lubrense mountain to Salerno is only about 30 miles, it could easily take you 3 hours to travel the whole thing (more in the stagnant summer traffic). This is what makes these crazy, speeding, careless Italian drivers even more ridiculous. Even though their mindset is as if they are in the Mille Miglia or Grand Prix, their average speed on the Coast Road is about 10 miles an hour. Speed like crazy 'til you hug the next car's rear bumper... then wait a minute or three until... yes... pass him on the next curve! Bravo! Ok... now the next rear bumper...

While the driving is the hell in this paradise, the views are astounding. I just can't look for too long while I'm driving. Still, this place is one of the most beautiful I've ever been to. The architecture, the tiled domes on the churches, the rugged cliffs above, the terraced olive and lemon groves, the rocky shoreline and sea below and the castle towers on just about every promontory. In places it's like I've walked right into a Maxfield Parrish painting.

One of the craziest drives was the one heading up to Ravello, a very artsy and musically important town clinging to the cliffs high above the sea. We strolled through Rufulo Gardens for its beautiful gardens, architecture and amazing views. The views from the terraced garden walls were unbelievable... like we were up on top of the beanstalk in the Giant's cloud looking down. We then had a simple lunch on the Piazza listening to street musicians singing old fashioned songs like Volare, but still lots of fun.

We then drove to a treat for Lucas--Vietri sul Mare, a town know for ceramics and tiles. (Lucas has taken several pottery classes.) We first visited the Solimene Ceremica factory. The building itself is a work of art looking like a modern interpretation of a castle covered with tile. It was designed and built by built in 1954 but looks like it was designed and built this year, aside from its deferred maintenance.

The place was full of pottery workers... few customers. It's not exactly a retail space, although you can walk right in. We saw all sorts of pottery and tiles... masks, fish, mermaids, monsters and of course bowls and other vessels. We wandered around and went to each worker to watch them work... one even let Lucas try his hand at putting a handle on a cup. Lucas was impressed with their bowl molding machine and how fast the artisans painted each plate with brightly colored glaze. One worker was making glaze in a huge vat, which made the 5 gallon buckets of glaze in Lucas' pottery class seem tiny.  We tried to catch a girl's attention in the office to ask about buying something, but she ignored us. There were no prices on anything, although all sorts of things were strewn all around the place. It was impossible to buy things here. (A note from December, 2014: I finally bought Lisa some Solimene pasta bowls from an importer for Christmas at ridiculous prices... and she loves them).

Next we walked on a nearby street where every other shop is selling ceramics... most were artisan shops. Every shop facade was a one of a kind work of art in tile. We bought some things from one shop (a chicken pitcher and some mini bowls for Lucas' classmates) and started to head back to Le Cicale for another home cooked meal.

Of course, the ride home was tense... 15 minutes of traffic before we could even turn around to go back in the opposite direction on the Coast Road. This time I was graceful as a dancer around each curve... like a boxer bobbing and weaving to avoid the oncoming idiots. We made it back safely, thank God.

Dinner tonight was gnocchi with tomatoes, provolone, speck (smoked prosciutto), wine and bruschetta... all bought for about 10 bucks at  little alimentari in Vietri sul Mare--including 3 euro for the nice bottle of Montepulciano wine. Buona notte, tutti...

--Jerry Finzi

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