Unfortunately the sky was quite overcast when the ship moored not far from the town of Positano. Both Pip and Sailor Boy had been looking forward to seeing this part of the Amalfi coast. The grey cliffs were spectacular, but where was the light, the colour, the sparkling water?
After taking the ship’s tender to shore, a short ride in a local ferry took them along the coast to the tiny town of Positano, with a population of 2,500, still barely larger than a village.
Many decades ago, the musings of American writer John Steinbeck on Positano were published in Harper’s Bazaar magazine, and are credited with expanding the tourist influx to the whole region.
“Positano bites deep,” he wrote, “It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.”
Expectations had been raised to lofty heights.
“Well the stones on the beach bite deep,” said Sailor Boy shifting uncomfortably on the grey pebbles. For two Australians accustomed to golden sands, it wasn’t much of a beach.
More enticing was the nearby town of Ravello. The tourist literature states the town has long been a destination for writers, artists and notables; including Virginia Woolf, Joan Miro, Truman Capote, M.C. Escher, Tennessee Williams, Graham Green, Leonard Bernstein and Hilary Clinton among many others. What a roll call !
This was a location not to be missed. To access the town, the local bus winds up a steep precipice negotiating a nerve jarring series of road bends before depositing its passengers on the village outskirts. Ravello’s heritage listed streets are for walking only.
Within the historic centre, the Villa Rufolo dates from the thirteenth century. Its flower gardens, overlooking the Gulf of Salerno and the Amalfi coast, must be among the most spectacular in the world.
The German opera composer Richard Wagner stayed in the villa. He was so moved by its beauty that he composed there, imagining the setting as the garden in the second act of ‘Parsifal’.
Every year the lower gardens of the Villa Rufolo host a Wagnerian concert to celebrate his visit.
Looking out across the bay, even on a dull day, it was ravishing.
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