Sorrento has a lot of festivities, Christmas lights cued to Italian songs around the center, boutique shopping, and some interesting historic buildings. My favorite are the cloisters, which have an art gallery.

I watch the sunset from the nearby balcony; Sorrento has beautiful cliffs jutting out from the city and is surrounded by mountains and sea. I stay in a hotel, to my surprise, and for cheaper than any hostel.

I eat cookies of amarena mixed with chocolate for breakfast. I tell the cashier I’m American and not Italian and she is taken aback in surprise. Maybe because I come in every morning speaking Italian. 

I have the best pizza for dinner.

The perfectly smoked crust is not too chewy, just soft enough. It’s almost liquid at the thinner parts, but nice and thick at the ends. The cheese is high quality and tender. The sauce is subtle, not too sweet or pasta-like. The secret is a little olive oil, which brings out the crust. I haven’t seen it used yet though it’s traditional. 

I come down at just the right time as the chef comes and helps me ring up the check. As she struggles with the register, I ask about the oven, which is electric with a brick base, and the unusual shape, which is a bit difficult to make circular because the dough is so soft. 

She has a background as a chemist, married an Italian, and so she know a lot about how fiber absorbs water, and continued fermentation of dough that keeps sucking out water. Some pizzas that are made while still fermenting will dehydrate you, which some pizza places do on purpose so you buy their drinks. I think the last pizza I have, Da Michele, the “best in Naples”, does this because I drank over a liter of water after and was still thirsty! It was still good, like what I would expect from a good Italian pizza place in New York, with a classic savory taste. 

You want the dough to sit for a while before kneading it, and you don’t want to over-knead it. It is important to add water bit by bit, not all at once, and you have to factor in temperature, humidity, changes for different kinds of flour (such as the old antiche style grinded from the mill). You want more salt or less depending on these conditions, and it is different in Naples because of the water. There are certain UNESCO heritage standards. The recipe is always the same, but it’s just how you make it, the technique, that makes a great pizza! She continues on divulging more secrets, but I don’t have the capacity to absorb it all.

My final night I am treated to an array of samples typical of Sorrento. Home of limoncello, I try some mixed with Buffalo milk that is very sweet. The rum soaked baba cakes in limoncello are like taking a shot with each bite.

A chocolate shop offers cow milk limoncello that is perfect. This is followed by a chocolate covered candied lemon peel, which reminds me of Passover candies, then a chocolate filled biscuit, which I bring home for my family to try. I try a proper limoncello, which was strong but not too bitter, still sweet with lemon juice. There is a lemon candy which you crush it and limoncello spills out over your tongue.

The town villa is celebrating the last night of a festival, displaying artwork from local photographers in the beautiful caves and natural beauty of Sorrento. There are miniature nativity sculptures of terracotta and clay, and lots of old music boxes (Carillons). It is a classy and beautiful way to end my stay on the amalfi coast.