Ever go to a place so stunning, so positively otherworldly, that you can’t even believe you’re there?

That’s precisely how I felt 11 years ago when Will and I drove up the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco for our honeymoon. And during last year’s anniversary celebration I was struck by the proverbial thunderbolt all over again (and that’s putting it mildly) when we visited Southern Italy.

We flew from Venice to Naples to save time and settled on Sorrento as sort of a home base before venturing to Capri and a couple of other Amalfi Coast spots. After three-plus weeks of travel already, Sorrento was the perfect place to take a breath, relax, and of course, try the pizza.

With only a week-ish to go and so much incredible Italian food to choose from, it was important, imperative, really, to come up with a strategy. So for our time in Sorrento, Will and I would often order a small pizza to share as an antipasto, then order whatever pasta we were wanting to try. And if you’re wondering how it all worked out? Well, let’s just say it was a winning formula.

The good thing about most of the places we visited on our trip was that lots and lots of walking was involved. That way you didn’t feel quite so bad about loading up on carbs. It rained quite a bit in Sorrento, but not even the prospect of sporting the frizziest hair on the planet kept us from exploring the town.

Filled with all kinds of cute little Mom and Pop shops selling everything from wheels of the best Parmesan you’ve ever sampled to gorgeous, handcrafted ceramics and robust Italian vino, it was fun exploring this beautiful corner of Southern Italy before making our way to Capri and Positano, which I’ll definitely save for the next post. Talk about feeling like you’re on another planet…there are barely words for how incredible both places were. I look at the pictures, and all I can say is wow!