Honeymoon in Italy: Sorrento

Unfortunately it rained when we were in Sorrento, so that really put a damper on things (plus, the train ride there from Naples was terrible; more on that in another post). But of course when life gives you lemons, make limoncello!

The afternoon we arrived, we walked around and saw this church called the Chiesa Santi Prisco Ed Agnello. 

Limoncello was EVERYWHERE. We also enjoyed it in Rome, but Sorrento is all about lemon everything. Not only were there orchards everywhere and several shops downtown to try limoncello (which was first invented by the monks of Benedict in the 16th or 17th century), but there were lemon souvenirs anywhere you looked: tea towels, ornaments, ceramics, T-shirts, scarves (I bought one)... If you wanted something lemon, they had it.

This was a pretty mosaic near some of the lemon trees we saw.

Traditional limoncello is made with three kinds of lemons: Capri lemons are smaller and more acidic, while the lemons from Sorrento and Amalfi are much larger and taste sweeter. Since it's the rind that is used to make limoncello, not the juice, all the lemons are grown organically so there are no pesticides on the peel. 

We mostly hunkered down inside due to the rain. We made sure to visit the Museo Correale, (which was celebrating its 100th anniversary), and to kill time we actually walked through most of it twice (you always notice something new the second time around!). There was a whole exhibit on still life paintings, and I enjoyed reading about how these pieces (also called "silent life") revolutionized art: artists no longer had to paint only people or religious figures, but instead could paint anything, even as banal as fruit, to show their artful skills.

One of my favorite pieces at the Museo Correale was an old board game which was used for gambling (similar to roulette).
The game was eventually banned!

We did end up taking a walking tour when things had mostly cleared up. We learned a lot about Sorrento, and I'm always one for soaking up the knowledge! Sorrento was a Greek colony 2,500 years ago before becoming a Roman colony (the emperors would take their holidays on the coast). It used to be just two kilometers long, but now it's seven kilometers long. Geographically there are two valleys in the historical center of the town, which were created after a huge volcanic eruption 35,000 years ago; throughout Sorrento you can see that the walls, buildings, etc. are made of a particular gray stone that was created during that explosion. 

We stopped inside a church to see some beautiful wood inlay artwork. Some of the pieces use 20 kinds of wood and can take months to create by hand. All of the pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle (a jig saw is used to cut the wood!). 

This mill inside one of the valleys in Sorrento was built in the 15th century, but in the late 1800's, the main square and street were created, filling up some of the valley. This made the area by the mill too humid, so people no longer lived or worked there.

Down by the water we stood outside a 17th century church for Santa Anna (protector of women and the city's port), where they still hold services every day twice a day. The bells were loud!

We saw the Cloister of San Francisco, which is the oldest building in Sorrento. It is a cloister, church, and monastery all in one. Originally a Roman pagan temple had been in its place, and one of those original pillars still exists today. 

While there were those museums and churches, I would say most of Sorrento is just shops and restaurants. And while it is fun to walk around and peek in at new shoes or buy some gelato, I didn't travel halfway across the world to go shopping and eat; I can do that at home! So I think one day in Sorrento is plenty of time to visit if you are planning to go to the Amalfi Coast. There are several cute towns along the water, so if we were to go back, I think we would try Positano instead.