*read my adventures along The Amalfi Coast here first!*
I don't know how anyone drives around southern Italy. We'd decided to drive from Rome airport down to Sorrento which had seemed like a great idea at the time, but four and a half hours later plus some very, very tight roads and some very, very brazen drivers made us think that maybe we wouldn't be doing the same should we return to this part of the country...
Regardless, we made it to Sorrento in one piece. After parking up in one of the world's smallest garages, I wasn't expecting much from our Airbnb, so imagine my surprise when we walked into something akin to the Palace of Versailles. Hidden in a nondescript apartment block, grand rooms plucked straight from the scenes of Downton Abbey awaited. Not bad, particularly considering that this whole place was cheaper than the cost of two rooms in any of the nearby hotels, plus allowed us a lot more space to call our own.
After settling in, it was time to get out and explore. We were very close to what we discovered was the main street, which made getting around very convenient. With such a long drive under our belts, it seemed about time for dinner, so we opted for a colleague's suggestion of O'Parrucchiano La Favorita. From the facade on the street, I'd expected a small homey restaurant. Instead, three tiers of restaurant stretched before us - half inside, half outside, and hundreds of lemon trees. This restaurant well and truly was the Tardis, and an extremely beautiful one at that. We split a starter, my highlight of which was the fried zucchini flowers filled with ricotta. I followed this with gnocchi alla Sorrentina - potato gnocchi in a tomato sauce with smoked provola cheese. It wouldn't have been a true Italian meal without tiramisu for dessert, as well as the local speciality - lemon delicizia, a dome shaped cake filled with lemon cream and covered in lemon icing. Very nice, but could've been even more lemony.
Good food continued the next morning when we went to Bistr96 for coffee and cornetti/ brioche / croissants (depending on where you're from). We got one with cream and cherry, the pain au chocolat's even tastier cousin, and a plain cornetto which they hand-filled with Nutella. Yum. Our first day was all about exploring Sorrento, so that's what we did - walking along the touristy streets with their thousands of lemon-themed souvenirs - limoncello, lemon soap, lemon candles, lemon printed clothes - anything you could think of, they'd made a lemon version of it. And that's without even considering all the lemon-based food and drinks you could buy too, as well as lemons of all shapes and sizes, including some about the size of a small basketball.
We ate a homemade lunch outside - fresh foccacia with burrata and little tomatoes - before I had my second form of lemon food/drink, a granita from David's Gelateria. Essentially just crushed ice, lemon juice, and a little bit of zest, it's very simple, but oh so refreshing. Perfect for all the walking we had planned. First, down to the Grande Marina, and then up, up, up and out of the city. The higher we got, the better the views of Mount Vesuvius - quite an impressive backdrop.
Our aim was the Roman ruins at Bagni Regina Giovanna. The road wasn't great for pedestrians (is anywhere in Italy?), along pavements or no pavements at all, with lost tourists and speedy Napolitan drivers tearing along the road next to you... Upon arriving there, you'd be hard pressed to find the Roman ruins, but it's a pleasant place to stop and admire the scenery, or take a dip in the hidden cove.
Dinner that evening was at Qui Sorrento, a small bistro a bit out of town, but so very worst the walk. We started off with a complimentary amuse boche of foccacia with a homemade salted butter, plus various other breads. I'm trying my best to get with the Italian way of eating dry bread, but I'm not there yet, so asked the lovely waiter if I could have some vinegar. They didn't have any, but what they did have was the world's most incredible red wine reduction. It was utterly delicious and I could've downed a whole bottle of it. In fact, we loved it so much, we asked if we could take some home, to which they obliged. Incredible - and the meal hadn't even properly started yet! They have a selection of starters which change on a regular basis, and they even made a special vegetarian one for me, which was delicious - a selection of small plates including blooming artichoke, asparagus with parmesan, variations of carrot, beetroot, fresh pizza dough with mozzarella, and a semi-sweet cube of provola wrapped in white chocolate. So delicious! This was followed by a mini scoop of olive oil ice cream to 'cleanse the pallet' before the main course. I'd opted for pasta e patate, which was nice enough, as were the other mains we ordered. We'd already had such a lovely meal, and that was without even including dessert. We had a kind of lemon soufflé, and a chocolate mousse with berry gels and coulis, both of which were utterly delicious. An incredible meal worthy of a Michelin star. Definitely the one to visit if you come to Sorrento.
Breakfast the next morning was at Bar Ciokochris - coffee and cornetti with almonds, orange marmalade, and chocolate. We were heading out of Sorrento the next day, so it was down to the harbour to catch the ferry to Capri - you can read all about that here! There was plenty of time for ice cream once we got back, so I made my way to Fresco. The reviews had said they made the best pistachio ice cream in Italy, so that was a must. I'm a bit of a chocolate orange fiend, so that made up my second flavour, and it was an excellent pick. The pistachio was indeed very nice, but that chocolate orange was even better. Best ice cream of the trip.
The only thing left on that day's agenda was dinner, so later, we walked down to the main street with a stunning sunset overhead. Our destination was Accento, a restaurant coincidentally located opposite O'Parrucchiano La Favorita, the restaurant we'd tried the first night. However, unlike that restaurant, this one was less Tardis like, and a standard sized restaurant on the inside. Predominately a seafood restaurant, there were lots of fresh things on the menu, including a pricey antipasti selection, and various fish dishes and pastas, including a black squid ink pasta. I had ravioli alla Norma - pasta filled with aubergine and smothered in tomato sauce. Pretty nice, but we'd really been spoiled by dinner the night before. I'd heard a chocolate soufflé being offered for dessert, but sadly they'd run out before we could order it, so we skipped dessert and instead enjoyed a small glass of limoncello on the house. Nice!
The next morning, we went to back down to the harbour, but with no success - the seas were too rough for the ferries to be heading out. Well, guess we ought to think about what to do over breakfast at Bar Pasticceria Monica for what turned out to be our cheapest yet - only €6.50 for coffee and cornetti! And tasty ones too - Kinder Bueno, chocolate chip, and dark chocolate. Having mostly recovered from the terrifying driving and tiny garage of a few days prior, we decided if there were no boats, the car would have to do. As such, we cruised out of Sorrento and onto the coastal road to check out the towns along the Amalfi Coast - read about that here!
Back in Sorrento before four o'clock, we still had time for more excitement before dinner. Checking out hikes from Sorrento online, we picked one that would take us up to Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi. It was pretty steep and not the easiest, but again, the views made it totally worth it - sweeping vistas of Sorrento, Vesuvius, blue skies and sea - very pretty. It took us about an hour to get up to the town, where we took a quick look at the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Grazie before heading a different way down. This one took down impossibly small and steep roads that we saw a few cars struggle up (GPS malfunction, we think!), past huge lemon and orange groves, through forgotten towns, and to viewpoints with spectacular views. The last part brought us down a path with a tiny chapel at the top and stations of the cross on the way down. Not the easiest hike, but definitely a highlight of our time in Sorrento.
I had worked up such an appetite on our hike, and where better to satiate it than at a Trattoria. We'd chosen Torna a Surriento, a little family-owned restaurant with the friendliest servers around. We were welcomed in literally with open arms, and attended to well throughout our meal. We started with a huge sharing platter of clams, mussels, sardines, fritters, fried zucchini flower stuffed with mozzarella, a mini caprese salad, and parmigiana - aubergine cooked with tomato sauce and cheese. I was already full by the time the main arrived - I'd seen the words 'fresh pasta' on the menu and was sold. Mine was a kind of spaghetti alla nerano, a simple pasta dish made with fried courgette / zucchini and provolone cheese. Very flavourful, and a pleasant homey place to have dinner.
We'd been so impressed with Pasticceria Monica that we decided to go there again the next day, this time for double cornetti since we'd be travelling the next morning. This meant taste-testing new flavours including Nutella, chocolate chip, white chocolate, and apricot. A very local bar that's well worth a visit. We headed back down to the harbour, fingers crossed that the boats would be running that morning. As luck would have it, they were, which meant a beautiful day in Positano - check that out here!
After a day full of hiking, we headed back to Sorrento. My legs were certainly feeling it, but that didn't stop us from taking a quick walk around 'hidden Sorrento' - I Giardini di Cataldo, with all of its lemon and orange trees, and past all of the five star hotels with their seafront views - I wouldn't mind staying at one of them! It looked like an ideal place to watch the sunset, but we had plans before the sun went down - dinner!
We'd actually booked our last night's dinner on our first night in Sorrento since they were booked for all the other days we were there. From their food, you could see why. We had a wonderful dinner at Trattoria dei Mori, sitting outside as we were served complimentary parmesan dough balls, followed by a sharing platter of sardines, octopus, zucchini flower, and stuffed artichoke. There were not one, but two vegetarian specials, so of course we had to try both. Gnocchi with a pumpkin puree, and homemade pasta with aubergine and tomato sauce, both served with buffalo mozzarella. Super tasty. Given it was our last night, what better way to treat ourselves than with three different desserts - tiramisu, buffalo milk cheesecake, and a traditional Easter cake with a delicate custard filling and dried fruit - all washed down with some complimentary limoncello. All of the restaurants we tried were very good, but this would definitely rank second after Qui Sorrento.
And with that, all we had left to do was drive back up to Rome (this time it took us a whopping five and a half hours). Yes, we'd seen parts of Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast that you don't see on Instagram - the horrendous traffic and the hordes of tourists being notable examples - but we'd also seen the best of it - the stunning scenery, incredible food, and much needed relaxation time. Worth a visit, at least once in your life.
And that's it from my current adventures down south! Don't worry, there'll be more Italian adventures coming soon (Genoa and Turin are up next!) so stay tuned to my Twitter @CiarasCountry to be the first to know when they're posted. Thanks so much for reading!