Positano is a place I visited with my family in September 2020. This city was the last stop of a mini tour that took us through Campania visiting Pompei, Sorrento, Capri and on the way back Positano. In reality, more than a real visit, it was a stop to have lunch and then continue the journey towards the south. To be honest, my curiosity about Positano was not that great, more than anything I wanted to retrace the Amalfi coast and the city was on the way. In those years, thanks to marketing that exploited influencers and social networks, it was easy to see incredible views of Positano as if it were heaven on earth. Living near the city of Scilla, which has similar if not better morphological characteristics, for me Positano was just a city similar to Scilla, nothing more. This is because when we are used to a certain type of panorama and scenery, it becomes the norm and not the exception. In other words, I wanted to spend hours in Positano mainly because I was passing through, motivated more by the intention of taking nice photos than for the visit itself. I already knew that the wonders they showed on social media to create envy in the masses, were all photos and videos that represented only a small reality of the city. Even before arriving in the city, when the coast began to take perpendicular shapes to the sea, I stopped at the first parking area to admire the view and take some photos. From there Positano could not be seen because the view was "closed" by the mountains but the scenery was still beautiful. From that parking lot I could see the curves of the different mountains positioned in depth and at the same time their slight inclination that ended straight into the sea. It was a very beautiful scenery helped by the clear day that only in the backlight created a light haze. To visit the historic center of Positano it was necessary to leave the car in a parking lot, I chose one that was located on a curve between the mountains before entering the urban part. Walking from there to the historic center was pleasant and in a certain sense immersive towards the reality of Positano, a place that from a geographical and urbanist point of view was certainly unique. The first impact with the city was very positive because I immediately found a clean and elegant context as well as having certainly particular views. Activities such as shops and small places where you could eat on the fly, were well-kept, elegant and clean, certainly places that were not for the masses. The context was then truly unique because the narrow streets that led towards the sea, became scenic thanks to the colors of the plaster of the houses together with those of the vegetation of the shops that with the patterned clothes displayed on the street, created beautiful multicolored effects. From this point of view, Positano reminded me a lot of Sorrento, these colored elements were what I did not find in Capri. Immersed in the colors, after about fifteen minutes we passed in front of the church of Santa Maria Assunta, probably one of the most important places in the city. The church was small with only three entrance doors of average size, in the central part the upper part with the glass rose window rose up. Detached on the left was the bell tower certainly more characteristic, as a design very similar to those that are very common in Latin countries. The tower was in fact made with exposed stone blocks and developed on three levels where for each of them there was if I'm not mistaken a bell. What I really liked instead was the church square. Even though it had been recently paved and in a modern style, it had a perfect view because it was at the right height level; not too high to cause vertigo but high enough to give a deep and articulated panorama. Certainly the main beauty was its location but to embellish and in a certain sense make me forget the modern design of the pavement, there were mosaics distributed throughout the square positioned in such a way as to be discovered rather than seen. We reached the sea after about twenty minutes, walking down the little downhill streets that maintained the same colors and furnishings as those seen from the beginning. The sea side was well organized and a new and large pavement was a sort of antechamber to the decidedly wide and deep beach. From the marina there was a beautiful view of the western part, the glimpse of Positano that formed a sort of curve. But the singular thing about being on the sea side was the possibility of seeing the dome of the church of Santa Maria Assunta, with its mosaic design. Up until that moment I had never seen the dome nor did I know of its existence. Together with my sister we explored a bit the paved part in search of the right restaurant and there I could notice that the beach was really large however the sand was dark brown, which seemed to me like volcanic sand, a type that I do not particularly like. We had lunch in a restaurant near the beach and it was a really long lunch respecting the slow pace of us southerners. We left the restaurant after 3 PM and while our parents started wandering around the shops, my sister and I went looking for the location with the best perspective to take photos. Unfortunately, near the beach the view was more or less the same along the entire marina. In the end we chose the background of the western part, the classic and popular one, distinctive of the city. We left Positano around 3:45 PM after a long climb through the unique richly colored streets. Even though the visit had gone well, however, I was not satisfied with the photos I had taken. More than anything, I had not managed to immortalize the image of Positano which, in addition to the colored houses, also included the large beach. After taking the car, on the way back on the uphill road I stopped at an observation point and there somehow I was able to take photos similar to those I had in mind, that is, managing to immortalize both the beach and the western part with a round shape. It was clear that the traditional image of the city was taken either from some house located on the ledge, or from the sea because there was no ideal point to be able to have a total view of the city. Our journey then continued towards home, however we stopped after a short time at another panoramic point with a view of the city of Amalfi. From there I could see almost the entire city but it remained small in the center and the view captured my attention more for the mountains overlooking the sea. Later passing through the city I regretted not having planned a stop there, Amalfi had a sort of magic that had captured me immediately. This was probably due to recurring dreams about the town linked to the arched bridge that I will have somatized during a visit there as a child. Just as I was walking along the road to the city center and then passing over the bridge, I promised myself to organize a visit to Amalfi which in the end was only 4 hours away by car from my home. Positano was an interesting visit even if I probably underestimated it considering it only a destination of passage. What amazed me was above all the elegance and cleanliness of the place more than the natural beauty itself. Positano was a destination for high-class people and this was noticeable, even the people who were on a day visit were good ones. I did not see or perceive the mass tourism that there was in Capri and this was an added value for Positano and something I did not expect. Today, retracing that visit to write this post, I see that day with a different eye and a more positive disposition of mind. In fact, the more time passes, the more difficult it is to organize trips of this kind with all the members of the family, at the same time as a person who loves to travel, it is not easy to return to places already seen because I always look for new ones. Positano therefore born from curiosity, remains a place certainly exclusive that personally left me with good impressions and family memories always beautiful to relive through images. A.M.
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