The final stop on our two week adventure was Positano, a small town built into the mountainside on the Amalfi Coast in Southwestern Italy. Positano stole my heart faster and with more conviction than I’d ever imagined it would. The pace of life moves a little slower, the people have a warmness about them, and the natural beauty of the sea and mountain surroundings evoke an emotional reaction. It will bring you to tears.
Positano’s juxtaposition of old Italian charm and modern luxury is quite an intriguing melange. The designer shops in town are curated with the finest Italian linen and leather goods, while the hidden “sidewalks” (which are actually better described as narrow pedestrian staircases climbing the hillside) offer glimpses into old, untouched Italy before the seaside town was discovered as a major travel destination around the end of WWII.
The locals are friendly and welcoming and exude a sense of pride about their village that is both tangible and contagious. One particular older gentleman, by the name of Mario, warmly welcomed us the moment we stepped out of our taxi, quickly becoming our unofficial ambassador to his great town of Positano. From his idyllic perch seated on a stone railing overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, this silver-haired, sun-tanned, retired (I assume) 60-something fellow with a “glass is half full” attitude, was there to greet us as we began our walk into the town square each morning, as well as, to check to make sure everything was “O-K” at the end of each day. Sometimes he’d be chatting with a fellow villager, and other times he’d be alone and simply people watching, but either way, he’d always have a smile and a kind word to offer. And it were these encounters we had come to look forward to at the beginning and end of each day in Positano.