If you walk around the island for awhile, you’ll notice there are beautifully coloured ceramics everywhere from window sills to doorways, from street signs to restaurant signs, from gorgeous murals on the front of buildings to tiny tiles of house numbers. If you take a close look, you may notice that in the corner of many of these signs is written Keramos d’Ischia. These custom hand-made signs come from the ceramics shop Keramos d’Ischia in…
Ischia keeps surprising me. As soon as I start to think I’m beginning to understand the island, it suddenly shows another side to me. It’s a volcanic island with fertile soil and has a rich agricultural and wine-making history. But it also has a famous residential botanical garden, visited by garden historians and enthusiasts from around the world – i Giardini La Mortella in Forio. British composer William Walton and his Argentian wife Susana Walton…
My mother used to say that when September came around, Ischia finally became hers to enjoy. It was her favourite month. I’ve never liked autumn and my heart deflates as summer winds down, but now that I live in Ischia I understand why my mother loved September. September in Ischia really is beautiful and one of the best times to visit the island. The August crowds leave to go back to work and school and…
All summer I’ve had this number looming over my head as if being in the last few months of my 30s meant something, as if it were my last days being young and now I can’t say that I’m young anymore. Today I’m turning 40. I’ve always been the baby in my family, by a very large margin, and while I still am, turning 40 feels like a big deal, like I can’t say that…
For most of my life, I’ve lived in places where August 15th wasn’t a big deal at all and I was always kind of sad about that because in Italy, especially in my dad’s home town of Monte di Procida, where my family still lives, Ferragosto is one of the finest days of the year. Here in Ischia, Ferragosto marks the peak of the tourist season and the island is packed! The ferries this weekend…
One of the secrets of Ischia Ponte is the pedestrian pathway via Soronzano that connects Ischia Ponte to Cartaromana. Back in the day via Soronzano was used as a trade route between the farmers in Campagnano, up in the hill above Ischia Ponte, and the fisherman down below. The farmers would bring their produce down to the market below, buy some fish and then carry it back up. Nowadays, the pathway meanders along stone walls…