There's Magic in Ravello

Chapter Six -There’s Magic in Ravello

The next day, Jon and I take a bus ride up to Ravello, known on the Amalfi coast as the Music City. We have no idea what we’re doing or where we’re going. All we know, courtesy of the front desk, is we have to catch a bus to get there.

I only know of the city because my co-worker had gone to Italy a few weeks before Jon and me and mentioned how beautiful it is. Still, Jon and I are blindly traveling up there. When we get off the bus, there is a line of vendors with jewelry, toys, purses, and other items. We continue walking along a cobblestone road through a tunnel of vendors and hear intense orchestra music coming from beyond the tunnel.

“Welcome to Disneyworld,” I say. “What did we just enter?”

Just hearing the orchestra playing is stirring something in my heart.

I definitely feel connected to this place: the villas, the gardens, the music, the shops. I think about the DNA test I took and how it said part of my Italian heritage is from Salerno, Italy. Perhaps I am connected to this area more than I realize.

We visit the Villa Rufolo, a breathtaking structure with incredible architecture. Soft music plays throughout the villa. It’s incredibly hot, almost unbearable, but sometimes a soft breeze sweeps through, and we feel okay. We can’t drink enough water to feel comfortable. But the villa sure is beautiful.

With tall castle towers and pointed archways, courtyards, and incredible amounts of gorgeous plants, including thick ivy that crawls up the stone walls, hydrangeas, colorful flowers, and palm trees, this villa makes me feel as though I’m in a fairytale. It’s tropical and historical at the same time. The view of this colorful, classic villa against the Tyrrhenian Sea is unique and spectacular. We visit the stage of Ravello next. It also overlooks the sea.

“How amazing would it be to listen to music here?” I ask Jon.

“It definitely would,” he agrees.

After the villa, we head into the town, which is full of small shops. First, I notice the stray cats, who are extremely friendly, by the way. I want to take all of them home with me. Then I think about where they live and where I live, and I realize, these cats are one hundred percent living the life. I’m not going to downgrade their living experience. I mean, if I were a cat, and I had the choice between living on the tropical Amalfi Coast in a small, safe town or in New Jersey, I think the answer would absolutely be Amalfi.

I want to buy one thing in Ravello to remind me of it. We are walking down a long narrow, cobblestone street full of tiny shops when suddenly I stop in my tracks.

“Jon, look!” I exclaim.

“What?”

“Up there. Look.”

Ahead of us is a store. The sign says, Rosanna.

“Woah,” Jon replies when he sees the sign.

“If that isn’t my mom, I don’t know what is.”

We walk up to the store. Out front are a bunch of items hanging on a metal lattice structure. They’re for another store but are right under the Rosanna sign.

“Now, I know it’s my mom,” I say, pointing to one of the objects hanging on the metal lattice. There, under the sign, is a big butterfly.