Sorrento, Come Back!

We're leavingSorrento, Italy  at twilight on the Silversea cruise line’s 200-passenger Silver Wind, moving away from Italy’s Amalfi Coast,  past Capri, through the narrow straits of Messina and Sicily to the west. The Mediterranean is smooth azure blue. Light winds, soon no land in sight, as the sun hovers over the horizon line, then sinks out of sight. Open space, air, sky nurture gentle thoughts and allow the mind to open, far away from the usual daily clatter. A solo walker moves quickly around the upper deck jogging track, as waiters set up al fresco dining on the pool deck below. I savor these moments between day and night, graceful transitions.

We left Sorrento at 6 pm. “Come Back to Sorrento” hums playfully in the back of my mind. For more than 2500 years, Sorrento has been the preferred home to emperors, kings, popes, great musicians, writers, artists. Across the Bay of Naples, with Mt. Vesuvius looming in the haze, Sorrento’s sharp craggy bluffs protect what was once a small genteel resort, now transformed for summer holidays across the tiny beaches grabbing every inch of sand below its formidable cliffs. (We didn't visit Pompeii, but Robert Harris' historical novel Pompeii: A Novel is a gripping way to do so.)

The Amalfi Coast – hundreds, perhaps a thousand, hairpin turns from Sorrento to Salerno, past Positano, the world’s most photographed fishing village. The Greeks settled Sorrento in the 6^th century BC and gave it the name, Surrentum, “City of the Sirens.” Virtually every European and Eurasian tribe lived there, culminating in the late 19^th century Belle Epoque architecture of the central square. I buy some extra-large Italian wraparound sunglasses, a la Gina Lollobrigida, as we retreat to the cruise ship’s much-cooler decks and read about the Greek Islands coming up tomorrow with a stop in Corfu.