Sorrento: Gateway to the Amalfi Coast

A travel guide to the reosrt town of Sorrento

The Greek (or perhaps Etruscan) city of Sorrentum on its bluff at the southern arms of the Bay of Naples was never terribly important in antiquity except as a middle-class resort for the Romans—and that status really hasn't changed for 2,000 years.

Since the 19th century, English and German visitors especially have flocked here on package tours (still the town's chief source of income). Ibsen even found enough inspiration here to finish writing Peer Gynt. Sorrento is the launching pad for the buses down the Amalfi Coast, just 20 minutes by boat from Capri, and a quick train ride from Pompeii.

There's not all that much to see in town, however. Sorrento makes a great base, but a boring destination. And in summer, English takes over for Italian as the most common tongue in town. However it can still be magical in the evening, when you stroll with the lively passeggiata through the streets, watch the sunset over the bay while sipping a drink at the Circolo dei Forestieri club, then spend the night sitting out on your hotel balcony to gaze at the twinkling manmade constellations of Naples' Bay strung out in a sweeping panorama under the dark bulk of omnipresent Vesuvius.

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