Sorrento, an Enchanted Place

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Sorrento, Italy

Sorrento, Italy, is such a beautiful place that I almost cried when I had to leave.

Sorrento is about a one-hour train ride from Naples (if you take the express train, it will arrive there in less than 40 minutes). You can also reach Sorrento by ferry from Naples. The town sits in the Bay of Naples, with its back to mountains with high cliffs, facing the blue water that eventually goes to the Mediterranean Sea. One can easily explore the famed Amalfi coast from Sorrento by bus or boat.

Our hotel, La Tonnarella (which I highly recommend), locates on the edge of one of the high cliffs in town. From the balcony of our room, I could see Mount Vesuvius facing me right across the bay, with cities such as Naples and Pompeii at its feet. Mount Vesuvius was the volcano that erupted in A.D. 79 and buried Pompeii and thousands of its residents under ashes. That is why instead of having a peak like other mountains, the summit of Vesuvius looks like an open mouth today.

Mount Vesuvius

To our left is the island of Capri, about 30 minutes boat ride from Sorrento. Capri was a favored retreat of Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius. Tiberius liked Capri so much that he moved his court to the island in A.D. 26 and ruled Rome from there until he died in 37 A.D. The island was also where another Roman emperor, Caligula, had spent his adolescence as Tiberius’s hostage. It was rumored that Tiberius corrupted the young Caligula and turned the latter into one of the worst emperors in Rome’s history (Tiberius didn’t have a good reputation either).

To our right, I could see Sorrento's harbor, the old city walls built by the Greeks, and various villas standing on plunging cliffs. Nature ensures that Sorrento is a place that is easy to defend and difficult to conquer. Needless to say, we had great views from our hotel room.