After Rome, we headed to the Amalfi Coast! We took a train Naples, spent a few hours in Naples, and then took a train to Sorrento. Using the trains was really easy! Definitely recommend taking the train vs renting a car as this area has super narrow and curvy roads.

We used Sorrento as our base for exploring Sorrento and Capri because Sorrento is pretty inexpensive.  Sorrento is not actually part of the Amalfi Coast, but a lot of people use it as their base for exploring the area. We spent two nights in Sorrento before we moved onto the true Amalfi Coast and stayed in Positano. I highly recommend dividing up your trip this way! We were able to see Naples, Sorrento, and Capri (which is famously pricey) with Sorrento as our base and then splurge a little with the money we had saved once we were in Positano.

Naples

I knew we had to work in a stop to Naples in transit on our way from Rome to Sorrento! I had been to Naples once before during college and wanted to take Patrick back for some of the BEST pizza EVER at Pizzeria Da Michele. Yes, parts of Naples are dirty and chaotic. But it is home to the best pizza in the world! If you’re headed this way, please please please make at least a quick stop in Naples and try some of the pizza.

Da Michele offers only two options: Classic Margherita with cheese, tomato sauce and a single basil leaf and the cheeseless Marinara topped with a traditional tomato sauce flavored with garlic and oregano. The prices are also extremely reasonable! We paid 4 euros for each pizza. And yes OF COURSE we each got our own Margherita pizza!

Da Michele is always PACKED…..but even more so in recent years because it was featured in Eat, Pray, Love. In the movie, Julia Roberts goes to Naples and eats the best pizza in the world at Da Michele. But Da Michele was a local institution long before Eat, Pray, Love. It’s been there for 150+ years!

Naples is also known for their cannoli, which Patrick had never had before. So before our train to Sorrento, we grabbed some cannoli from Cuori di Sfogliatella and ate them on the train. SO GOOD. Pat loves cream or jelly filled doughnuts so I knew he would love a Napoli cannoli.

Sorrento

Sorrento sits on the cliffs overlooking the Bay of Naples, Mt. Vesuvius, and the Isle of Capri. The town of Sorrento actually dates back to 600 BC. According to some, it was in Sorrento that limoncello, Italy’s most famous liqueur was invented (although it’s up for debate, since Sorrento, Amalfi, and Capri all claim its ancestry). Limoncello is a traditional yellow liquor made from lemon zest, water, sugar, and alcohol. There are a ton of Limoncello shops in Sorrento where you can buy and get a free tasting of this intense lemon flavored digestive.

Sorrento also has a bustling town center with beautiful piazzas and tons of souvenir shops. I found the souvenirs in Sorrento to be much more reasonably priced than anywhere else in the area. There’s lemon or orange themed EVERYTHING: home decor, kitchen items, clothing, jewelry, etc.

We stayed at Casa Dominova and I would definitely stay there again! It’s in a great location, very easy to find and close to the center of town so you can walk everywhere.

The food in Sorrento is really good. We made sure to try all of the specialties that Sorrento is known for: Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, limoncello, local seafood, and lots of lemon granita. Our favorite meal we had was at Ristorante Bagni Delfino, which is right on the water in Sorrento’s Marina Grande. Bagni Delfino has a gorgeous outdoor seating extended onto the water on a dock. The seafood here was amazing. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed the most beautiful sunset while we finished our meal. One of those places we will definitely go back to if we’re ever in Sorrento again!