Sorrento, Italy: Our Family's Summer Ritual

Some places you visit. Others you return to, summer after summer, until they start to feel like a second home. For my family, that place is Sorrento. We've been coming here almost every summer since around 2014, and this year's trip, our second stop on a few weeks in Italy, reminded me exactly why we keep coming back.

Our journey started up north: we took the train from Brescia to Rome, then settled in for the drive south about three hours of winding roads and coastline views until Sorrento appeared, all cliffs and lemon groves and that impossible blue water.

Sorrento is the stop where the itinerary loosens and the days slow down, mornings at the beach, afternoons wandering the shops in town, long lunches that stretch into golden hour. It has the polish of the Amalfi Coast without the performance; it lets you just be there.

The highlight of every Sorrento summer is our day on the water. We took a private boat along the coast to Positano's pastel houses stacked down the cliffside, and then on to Nerano, the quiet fishing village at the tip of the Sorrentine Peninsula.

Then, lunch: Lo Scoglio da Tommaso in Nerano. If you've followed me for a while, you know this is one of my favorite restaurants. Set right on the water in Marina del Cantone, family-run since 1958, with seafood pulled from the sea in front of you and vegetables from their own farm. The food is, simply, unbelievable. It is the kind of lunch you plan a trip around.

Our hotel, La Cocumella, was pure Sorrento magic beautiful gardens, an outdoor lunch area serving the freshest pizzas and salads, a pool for slow afternoons, a lovely private beach, and a lounge made for aperitivo hour. Days here move at exactly one speed: yours.

Watch the Trip: Come along with us on the full Sorrento vlog, from the boat ride to that unforgettable lunch at Lo Scoglio.

Have you been to Sorrento? Tell me your favorite Amalfi Coast memory in the comments and subscribe on YouTube for the rest of our Italy summer series.