In Dream of Italy's Special

Report: Amalfi Coast, guest editor Barrie Kerper asked a few residents and

habituées of the Amalfi Coast about what they especially love about this

special coastline. We published a number of tips in the newsletter but didn't

have room for them all, so here are some additional favorite things:

Leni Attanasio, owner, with her husband, Palazzo

Murat, Positano:

• the restaurants Acqua Pazza in Cetara; Da

  Gemma trattoria in Amalfi; Capo D'Orso in Salerno;

  Il Grottino Azzurro in Positano; Donna Rosa in

  Montepertuso; and La Tagliata, between Montepertuso

  and Nocelle.

• Next To in Positano, a club with a new, modern look and

  great drinks and antipasti.

• the town of Conca dei Marini.
• hiking up to Montepertuso and Nocelle in the spring and autumn.
• a trip to Capri - but only if you stay more than a day.

Giulia Sersale, Supervisor, Plants and Flowers,

Le Sirenuse, Positano:

• mortella, the beautiful Mediterranean plant known as wild

  myrtle that thrives here. La

  Mortella (the place of the myrtles) is also the name of the garden on

  the nearby island of Ischia that was created by Lady Susanna Walton, wife

  of Sir William Walton, a noted British composer. Designed by English landscape

  architect Russell Page, La Mortella is one of the world's great gardens, with

  rainforest trees, fountains, lotus pools, scented plants, olives, and wild

  roses. HRH Prince Charles is the patron of La Mortella, and recently a book

  was published, La Mortella: An Italian Garden Paradise, (New Holland

  Publishers, 2002). DOI readers who are garden enthusiasts

  may also be interested in the

  Mediterranean Garden Society, .

• the scalinatelle of Positano have some lovely little shops, such as Ferro

  & Design and Idee d'Arte, with handpainted plates

  and attractive objects. They're tiny stores on Via Leucosia, down

  the hill from Le Sirenuse - just take the little stairway on the

  right side off Via Cristoforo Columbo.

• three restaurants on the spiaggia grande (main beach) in Positano:

  La Cambusa, a typical Positanese restaurant with tables indoors

  and out and delicious fried antipasti; Le Tre Sorelle, named

  after three clever women who opened the restaurant in the '60s; and Chez

  Black, where you must ask for spaghetti ai ricci, spaghetti

  with sea urchins - the owners also have a nightclub, Music on the

  Rocks, open in the summer.

• Il Poseidon

  hotel and restaurant (via Pasitea, 148, Positano). Brother and sister owners,

  Monica and Marco Aonzo, have created a lovely atmosphere

  where piano music is played every evening in the vaulted ceiling sitting room.

  The hotel is on the opposite side of Positano with views towards Le Sirenuse,

  and the restaurant serves delicious food.

• La Buca di

  Bacco hotel and restaurant in Positano. The restaurant is very good and

  serves a specialty: palle di riso, rice balls - a Positano tradition is for

  families to buy as many rice balls as they can and take them on board their

  gozzo, anchoring a few miles away in a special place called la cattedrale,

  the cathedral.

• boat trips to one of three restaurants: Ristorante la Conca del

  Sogno in Recommone (081.8081036), Ristorante Lo

  Scoglio in Nerano (081.8081026), and La Taverna

  del Capitano in Marina del Cantone (081.8081028). All of

  these are en route to Capri, and are in beautiful fishermen bays and have

  local fresh food.

• hikes in the mountains. Guests at Le Sirenuse can participate in a special

  exercise walk organized by our fitness center that goes up the stairs that

  lead to Nocelle.

Carla Capalbo, author,The

Food and Wine Guide to Naples and Campania: :

• Delizia al limone of Salvatore De Riso (Pasticceria De

  Riso, Piazza Cantilena, 28, Minori): this is a classic Amalfi Coast

  dessert, a pale yellow breast of lemon-infused custard, cake, and cream. It

  uses the indigenous limone sfusato, which only grows on this coast, and has

  less acidity and more sweetness and flavor than other lemons. This was a historic

  dessert that had stopped being made, and De Riso revived it.

• the raw milk cheeses being made by Gregorio Avitabile and Rita

  Cioffi from their goats and sheep, high up on the mountain above Amalfi.

  No one ever looks upwards from that great coastal road, preferring to see

  only the sea, but up high there are villages like Scala that are so steep

  only mules can reach them, and the cheeses the animals make from those airy,

  salty pastures are sublime.

• The vegetable garden at Punta Campanella: Alfonso Iaccarino's

  vegetable garden for his famous 2-star Michelin restaurant, Don

  Alfonso 1890, is in the completely unspoiled, UNESCO-site peninsula, Punta

  Campanella. It once housed a Greek temple, and has been left intact for millenia.

  Alfonso and his wife, Livia, bought it when it was a wild jungle, and have

  lovingly retamed it, planting it with dozens of varieties of native southern

  Italian olive trees, and all the indigenous vegetables his kitchen loves to

  serve. These are the luckiest vegetables on earth, as they look out on only

  one thing: the island of Capri surrounded by the blue Mediterranean.

Faith Willinger, author of the upcoming Adventures of an Italian

Food Lover: With Recipes from 213 of My Very Best Friends [Faith's

book will feature about a dozen recipes from Amalfi Coast andCampania destinations.]

• The fish cookery of chef Gennaro Esposito, at La Torre

  del Saracino restaurant, in the town of Vico Equense (Via

  Torretta, 9; 0818.028.555). This extraordinarily large, jovial young man has

  a finesse of palate and hand that is rare to find, and his work with the locally

  caught Mediterranean fish that the little fishing boats bring in each morning

  is fantastic...worth the detour. His partner, Vittoria Aiello's babà

  is also a favorite. Light as a cloud, but much more memorable! [baba

  refers to the Neapolitan version of baba au rhum, a light pastry made with

  rum and served with cream and/or fresh fruit.]

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