The Amalfi Coast: October 20th-23rd

There were four major historic trade empires based in Italy.  One was Venice—this is the one I have had the most exposure to, perhaps it was most focused on expansion.  Pisa and Genoa were two other major empires.  The fourth was the trade empire of the Amalfi Coast—the Amalfitani.  

After our two days in Rome, which was not long enough for me, we took the train to the Amalfi Coast.  My mum has an ethnobotanist friend and colleague in Rome who did her masters and PhD in the steep, little valleys that make up the Amalfitani landscape.  The friend, Valentina, offered to show us around and promised to tell us the traditional uses of each plant we could see.  My parents, who had been starved for a scientific analysis of plants, were like little kids in a candy store.  “What’s this plant?  This one?  Ooh, I recognize it now!” 

Everyone says that the Amalfi Coast is beautiful, but I had no idea what to expect.  I pictured a demure little coastline with pretty sand beaches and quaint seaside villages.  However, there is nothing demure or subtle about Amalfi.  Mountains with vertical cliffs rise straight up out of the ocean and extend into the clouds.  Fog drifts down off the mountains and wraps the whole coastline in white and then pummels the landscape with a tropical-force storm.  Where the mountains meet, there are steep sided canyons, streams, and tiny coves surrounded by cliffs.  These valleys are a hotspot of plant diversity and are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Harvesting Feral Lemons

The towns are perched improbably on mountainsides and seem like they will slide into the ocean at any moment.  Between the towns, the narrow road winds above the sea and follows every crevice and bulge of the mountains.  This is not a road for the faint of heart or people who get carsick.  This road basically has one lane, except that huge busses regularly squeeze past each other on their paths from town to town.  Most people take the bus in Amalfi and it is not surprising—the roads are terrifying and the views are a breathtaking distraction from the road. 

Lemons Growing on a Hill

This seems to be a trend throughout the Mediterranean: human habitation and cultivation extends way up the mountains.  In Amalfi, every cultivatable space is occupied.  Extreme terraces divide the landscape horizontally.  The lemons and oranges that are cultivated on these terraces are swathed in black shade-cloth as protection against the elements.  Traditionally, grape arbors acted as the sunscreen.  When this was an empire, the Amalfitanis used to export wood and wood products around the Mediterranean.  It’s a wonder, but much of the Amalfi Coast is still forested. 

Our travels in Amalfi would have been impossible without Valentina.  She knew where to hike, what to see, whom to talk to, and where to eat.  With Valentina showing us around, I feel like I got a real sense of the Amalfitani culture. 

Sugar!

On our second to last night, we held a party for ourselves.  That morning my dad and Valentina went to the town’s pescheria (fish store) and chose for us some of the local, fresh caught seafood.  They came home with bulging bags of mussels, about 60 fresh anchovies and three other species of fish about 15cm long.  At dinnertime, we shut all the interior doors so that the kitchen was sealed from the rest of the house and we started cooking.  The mussels were first steamed in a light tomato-wine-olive oil sauce and the aroma of cooking tomatoes filled the room.  When these were cooked, we devoured them as finger food exclaiming over their magnificent flavor. 

Frying Fish with Garlic

Next up were the anchovies.  Half a liter of oil was poured onto the pan and then all the little fish were poured in.  I guess technically they were deep-fried.  However, I have never tasted anything fried that tasted so light or healthy.  They weren’t greasy or fishy, they were delicious.  These are eaten from head to tail and are partly delightful because they need to be eaten using our fingers.  This was my favorite part of the meal.

The other fish was also fried is the same manner and also eaten with our hands.  It was astonishing to me to be able to taste the different flavors in each type of fish all prepared the same way.  Georgie is the stereotypical teenage boy and is always hungry and eating constantly.  That evening he ate, and ate, and ate, and the rest of us just watched him in awe. 

Fried Fish

There seem to be a higher ratio of 

pasticceria's (pastry shop) in Amalfi than anywhere else I’ve been.  Perhaps this is because most of the businesses cater to tourists and sell gelato, pottery, souvenirs, and sweets.  My favorite shop was one that existed before the waves of tourists and exists mainly for the locals.  Inside the store there are tables and tables showing cakes, pastries, and regional specialties.  The Rum Baba is a puff pastry shaped in a cone that is served in a puddle of rum.  There is a ricotta cheese cake with a layer of pears, this is something they invented.  In fact, this pasticeria is so good, that the previous Pope ordered his cakes here. 

The Pope's Pastries

When George had finally finished all the fish, and after a suitable period of digestion and conversation, out came the dessert.  Our dessert was a selection of the specialty cakes from that excellent pasticceria patronized by the Pope.  There was a light and fluffy chocolate cake, a Rum Baba, which I strongly disliked but my father adored and two other absolutely mouthwatering confections. 

If I end up staying in Italy any longer, I am going to leave round like that girl in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.  I don’t have such a sweet tooth, at least, I am discerning in the sweets that I do like.  They can’t be too sugary, they need to have an interesting flavor and they have to be special in some way.  Unfortunately, (or fortunately) all the baked goods in Italy fit these criteria.  Also, each town has a specialty that I always need to taste.  For once, I am eating as much sugar as my brother.