Monday 17 June

A day in Ravello – I’d been wanting to visit this little town 360m above sea level, high in the hills above Amalfi and a little bit further than the town of Scala.   I’d read about it and seen it in Cheryl’s lovely book of photos so after breakfast we took the public bus and headed up into the hills.  Seven of the group decided to do a free two-hour walking tour of Ravello, one of half a dozen being offered all along the coast – I guess to tourists in an effort to bring a bit of culture, and to tell people about the area.   A great idea and popular, there would have been perhaps 15 or 16 in our group at 10am.    I got talking to the guide later and she said they have to have intensive training: firstly, get accepted to the course (6000 applied in 2013 when she did and it got weeded out to about 600), then do your study and pass and exam (weeds out more), then wait your turn to do the oral exam.  It took her three years before she did the oral part and got her licence.  Her intake was the first in over ten years and the idea of licencing was to stop the bad reputation tour guides have in Italy through little English, overcharging, wrong information, generally inadequate.     Jacopo had made sure we all knew the difference between a tour guide and a tour leader, he’s the latter and would get fined if he gave us much more than the travel information.  

The guide, Roberta, was excellent; we walked at a reasonable pace (it was hot, surprise surprise) and there were a few slopes and stairways to negotiate but there were trees for shelter and it’s only a small place so not a huge distance from A to B.    We started in the plaza in front of the Duomo (cathedral) but first had a good look over the edge of the plaza looking across to Scala, and got a history lesson.   Ravello had been settled from the east around the 4^th century though the Romans had had settlements all along the west coast for centuries, holiday destinations from Rome as well as business interests.   Looking across the gully and up to the mountains across from Ravello you can see a few slips, the rock strata in parts where it has been pushed up by earth movement, but the over all view is of massive amounts of terracing made of stone, probably 3 – 4 meters of flat land in-between, so much work has gone into it over the centuries.    One of the main agricultural products is lemons and we learned that the Romans called it the fruit of life because at any one time the trees have flowers, green fruit and ripe fruit, all year round.     

There are several churches in the town, most built from about the 13^th century in the Arab/Norman style with three doors, three naves inside divided by two rows of columns, most have a tower with a distinctive two-coloured decoration.   The town had a bishop at the Duomo, having been granted its own see around the 13^th century which gave it independence from Amalfi.   The Duomo has large gardens at the back and a bishop’s residence which is used for functions now.    Inside the cathedral it originally had frescoes but a couple of hundred years ago was given a makeover in the baroque style, ceilings covered, bling everywhere around the altar and side chapels.    Recently they have been restoring it to something like the original though by stripping off the baroque decorations they also lose much of the fresco underneath so what they have managed to uncover is very precious.    In the centre aisle were what we thought were two pulpits; one had the story of Jonah and not the whale (it was something called a piscine, fish-like monster), and the other had six polished marble lions holding up tall columns, they’d have been over two feet tall and all had different facial expressions.   I liked this one looking a bit overloaded.

Everywhere we went in the plaza we could smell Chinese jasmine, really refreshing and you couldn’t see the plants but the perfume was there – other than behind the Duomo where there was a whole wall, about 2m high and 30m long covered start to finish with jasmine.   Beautiful.  We went into a posh hotel away from the tourist area, it has kept the original features of a very lovely old home and the view out the windows was down to the coast, blue seas, blue skies, a few big ‘gin palaces’ sailing along.  Unfortunately there was a lot of humidity just hanging in the air so photos were hopeless but I did get a much better one at the bus stop on the way home, a similar viewpoint.      There were a few little boutique-type shops in that posh area too, no tourist tat for the rich folk.  

We visited another church (there are several in the town), this one is known for its excavations which revealed the original church dating back to the 12^th century and it has a glass floor through which you can see the back of the old apse and crypt.   We went down the stairs to the front of this apse and they have uncovered frescoes in good condition.      There was so much to see and hear about, it was well worth doing this tour and well done to the local government for sponsoring this and similar.

At the end we had the option of paying to go into Villa Rufolo or walking to a nearby villa and gardens, we took the paid option and continued with Roberta for another 15 – 20 minutes so got the story of the villa.   It was built in the 13^th century in the Moorish style by a wealthy merchant who married into the aristocracy.  In later years the family backed the wrong side in a war, the then owner was executed and the estate sold up, gradually fell into disrepair.  It was bought by a wealthy Scotsman in the 1850s when he was on the grand tour, he restored house and garden.  Composer Richard Wagner visited in 1880 and used the gardens as inspiration for an opera setting and when we visited there were preparations going on for the annual Wagner festival, operatic music was playing softly throughout the house and garden.  Lovely place and well worth seeing.  The gardens are very well kept and we had our photo taken in one corner where apparently ‘everyone’ poses with the view along the coast (today obscured a bit by mist, but we did it).     There was a large bed of zinnias which my father always grew and my sisters and I never liked the flower but these days the colours are brighter and prettier and I have to say Dad would have liked this one.  

We had lunch in the square where the rip-off price for a tiny bottle of Schweppes lemon made me a bit cross, but the pizza and caprese salad we shared were nice and it was a treat in a lovely setting.    And of course the resident cat was pretty cute, and demanding, so I gave him a bit of pizza. 

Then down the winding road we went in the bus and I had a quiet hour or so in the hotel while Pete, crazy, went for a walk up the ‘ancient pathways’ above the town to see what he could see, good views and he marvelled again at the tenacity of people over the years for building and maintaining these houses and gardens on the edges of cliffs.       After that we were ready for a swim just across the road, definitely a shock getting in but it warmed up and was really refreshing, and at 5pm the crowds were clearing.    We went for a walk up the shopping street around 7.30 and ate just off the square in a place where the waiters all sang along with the music – pretty much the same songs that we’d heard at the show last night, but this time it was Dean Martin and others singing.    Finished our meal with Limoncello and lemon sorbet, nothing to complain about there.

Tuesday 19 June

Early breakfast, packed up then popped across the square to the Duomo to have a look inside.  Lots of baroque bling in the church itself and the crypt chapel – well, they really went to town there with the gold, gold and more gold.   The Catholic church has had plenty of money over the years……. 

Then it was onto the bus and away we went on the second part of our southern Italy adventure, up over the Appenines and on our way to Puglia.

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