One Week on the Amalfi Coast
SARAH x ANNE in Amalfi
The Amalfi Coast has always been very high on my list. Actually, it’s kind of been the place I felt I absolutely had to go more than any other place. When going to Italy, most people expect you to visit the classics like Rome or Venice, but for me and my first trip to Italy I just wanted to be by the coastline.
I started learning Italian in October of 2021 after speaking with my friend who is an avid world traveller, who encouraged me to task the risk and just go wherever I wanted. In January of 2022, I started talking to a travel agency and was only looking at one location: the Amalfi Coast. The Amalfi Coast is a generalized term of a southern coastal region in Italy that often includes Naples, Sorrento, or of course, Amalfi. With the agency I was speaking to, I was looking into starting in Naples and then making my way to the nearby island of Ischia, a spot not known by many tourists but covered in thermal natural pools. One week after opening the conversation with that agency, the American influencer who lives in Italy known as Kacie Rose posted that she was hosting a trip in the Amalfi Coast in July of this year. The post on tik tok didn’t go viral, and I had only seen it because I was looking on the “following” page, not the “for you” page. She had one trip for Rome and Florence already go live and it had sold out in less than 5 minutes, so I knew I had to very on top of it if I wanted to make it. I set my calendar up for the minute the trip was available to purchase and finished the application in 2 minutes, and it sold out in 2 minutes. I was signed up to go with a famous influencer and 20 other people I’d never met.
Because I had spoken with the agency prior, I knew of the direct flight that United has daily in the summer from Newark to Naples. Because I have family only a 30 minute drive from Newark, I booked that direct flight and scheduled a weekend before in NYC.
Going with Kacie Rose was a dream come true, not because she’s, you know, tik tok famous, but because she is truly a genuine person who made the trip better than it would have been if I had just gone through an agency. The agency we went with, Trova Trip, suggested Kacie set up a group chat for our group 1-2 weeks before, while Kacie took the time to set us up in a group chat a full 2 months before. We all got to know each other well enough that I already felt comfortable and open to having one of them as my roommate. Kacie is truly one of the best people you’ll ever meet, so it made sense that the 20 people that signed up to go with her were also incredible. We all got along so well and want to keep traveling together. The trip may be over by our group chat is still alive and well.
This trip didn’t even really feel like a vacation as much as it felt as a life milestone. It got my scaries out for traveling in Europe and as much as I knew I was going to want to go back, I have that much more confidence that I can do so again and again and have a great time.
NAPLES
Before planning my trip to Italy, I wasn’t aware of the overall disdain many people have for Naples. The stereotypes of this city are that the people are thieves, and Italians everywhere else look down on this city. Even comments in mainstream media point out this notion, as Eat, Pray, Love includes a quote of someone getting robbed in Naples at an art museum. We quickly saw lots of graffiti, and the fast pace of all the drivers.
When you think the easy, walkable cities of Europe, you probably wouldn’t think of Naples. I only walked around in groups and wouldn’t want to explore even the nicer streets alone, as the cars drive fast and furious. In Italy in general, there are no lights at crosswalks. You have to just kind of go for it. Pair that with the overall pace of Naples and many times it got chaotic.
Castel dell,Ovo
Nevertheless, Naples is an incredibly important city with rich history, and great food. The area we stayed at was packed with families walking their children by the water. Of course, pizza was on the itinerary, as Naples is the birthplace of pizza. We started the first day fighting the jet-lag of an overnight flight with espresso, and then pizza fritta, a type of pizza found in Naples with fried dough.
Café (espresso) at Bar Romano
Wearing the Blake Bodysuit in Cherry
https://www.sarahxanne.com/products/blake-bodysuit
Pizza fritta Primavera at Marsadona
I am not a coffee drinker but 1. I was in Italy so I had to, and 2. I had to fight the jet-lag which the best way to do that is just to stay up until the new bedtime hits. I still vividly remember the feeling of the second almost burning hot espresso at Caffe Moreno we had not too long after the first. Pair that with jet-lag in a new country and it was a spiritual experience.
Caffe Moreno
The next part of my spiritual experience in Naples was the gnarly heat rash I got on my legs. I’d never had one before but got the beginnings of one a day prior after several thousand steps in hot New York City.
On day 1 in Italy, I started to feel the swelling pain of my heat rash after pushing myself past my jet lag limits, leading a group on a walk through Naples to find the local’s recommendations for gelato (no regrets).
We also found a shopping center, Galleria Umberto, that looked like it should hold the most fabulous stores in the world, but instead had a Zara and a McDonalds.
We went to local boutiques and shops and I regret not buying anything from them!
I ended the day with swollen, hot feet, a disbelief that I was living my Lizzie McGuire experience, and anxiety from all the caffeine in my body.
Day 2: I woke up with the heat rash being so horrible it was painful to stand. Kacie ran to a pharmacy to get me whatever they could recommend and brought back aloe vera and antihistamines. I stayed back in my hotel room and missed a walking tour of Naples, but honestly, I had a pretty good one the day before. I stayed back and tried to order room service, but the phone was sooo quiet I couldn’t hear them. So I ate at the restaurant on the top floor. The waiter didn’t speak English and I could basically only say two sentences in Italian despite my months I’d spent on Duolingo: Dové il bagno and Grazie. I got through it but it was painful, both for my psyche and my swollen feet.
In a dress I made from linen and lyocell fabric.
Later when the group came back from the walking tour, we went back up to the restaurant for an aperol spritz. Everyone joked that I was playing fake sick that day to have a true Lizzie McGuire experience and hang out with an Italian boy. No, I’d matched with some boys on bumble in Italy prior to the trip, and quickly learned it may not be the safest option for me to meet any of them. Kacie later explained that the Italian people see dating apps as still very taboo. Basically, if you’re on them, you’re looking for nothing more than a very good and scandalous time. And they are VERY forward about it, let’s just leave it at that. I decided I wasn’t in Italy to meet my future husband, and wasn’t trying to have an Under the Tuscan Sun moment. However, when my friends and I paid for our aperol spritzes, I apparently was absolutely blushing at the waiter. My friends told me I looked like a cartoon character with hearts in my eyes. I tried denying it, because I thought I was keeping my composure with that guy! Then finally I caved and exclaimed to everyone that yes, I may have a thing for Italian guys. There was absolutely no hiding it.
That evening, we took a pizza making class! Of course in the birthplace of pizza this is a given.
After pizza, it was time for another drink. At this point I’d been upstairs at this restaurant three times this day. The waiter I blushed at earlier came up to our group as we checked out and went straight to me, saying
“I’ve seen you three times today, do you live here?” My group stated giving me smirky side eyes. I said no, and he asked how long I was staying, to which I replied we were leaving the next day.
“But we’ll be back Sunday!” one of my friends quickly said. The whole elevator ride down my group gave me the hardest time about him! But that is the extent of my Italian boy stories. Do you guys realize how complicated it is to have a significant other from another country? I’m not realistically trying to ride that ride.
Day 3: Pompeii and Sorrento
I woke up this morning with more heat rash pain. Essentially every morning when I put my feet on the floor, the swelling would make my feet feel tight and it was super painful. The day would start with a tour of Pompeii, which I didn’t know if I would survive with my heat rash. I wanted to preserve my heat tolerance for Sorrento, which we would be seeing that night, and I didn’t want to miss that! The Pompeii tour was set for two hours and there’s hardly any shade in the Pompeii ruins. Thankfully, two of my friends had already been to Pompeii and wanted to stay in the shopping area of town. I stayed back and got a spicy *detox* drink. Featured is the pair of sunglasses I found on our tour bus the first day in Naples, which I later lost in Sorrento. Sisterhood of the Traveling Sunglasses?
Sorrento was, of course, breathtaking. A touristy, yet charming and walkable city with lemons, gelato and pasta galore. 
The view from our hotel in Sorrento, Grand Hotel Vesuvio
One of the best dinners we had on the trip was at La Limonaia. It’s a newer restaurant in a lemon grove, and the reviews on TripAdvisor have since been spotty. However, our experience was nothing short of phenomenal. In all honesty, it probably had more to do with the people at our dinner. Our group had a fun dynamic and I don’t think there was a moment of drama on the entire trip. We all got along and I think this dinner really set the vibe of our group in stone.
But I mean, the food didn’t hurt either. Look at this fantastic pasta! This maybe my favorite dish of the entire trip. The sauce had lemon in it, of course.
