Sorrento lies on the other side of the peninsula's tip, nestled in hills of orange and lemon groves. The skins of Sorrento's abundant lemons were the first to be made into limoncello, the sweet lemon liqueur drunk straight from the freezer throughout Italy's South. Other local fruits and herbs are also made into liqueurs, including walnuts, bay leaves and mandarin oranges. Traditional crafts are integral to the Amalfi Coast's economy. Local workshops still make the brightly colored ceramics, wooden inlays and handmade lace that have defined the area for generations.
Just west of the Amalfi Coast is the island of Capri, a favorite vacation spot and home to some of Campania's most luxurious hotels and restaurants. The emperors of ancient Rome first turned Capri into a summer playground, building villas on the island's volcanic hills. Looming rock formations, i faraglioni, line the coast like natural lighthouses. At one point where the cliffs meet the water is the small, arched entrance to Capri's famous blue grotto, la grotta azzurra, where rowboats and swimmers brave the darkness to enter the deep, water-filled cave. When you turn around to face the entrance, an electric turquoise glow mysteriously lights up its waters, a result of sunlight reflecting through an underground hole in the rock and projecting upwards. The wealth of ancient ruins in Campania comes in part from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum overnight. The tons of volcanic ash that fell on those cities was certainly tragic-it suffocated many of their inhabitants before they could escape-but it also helped preserve thousands of frescoes, massive stone buildings and sculptures in top condition. The abandoned city of Pompeii stretches for miles, with original flagstones paving its roads, grooved from years of chariot wheels rolling over them. Temples, public baths and a large amphitheater are still intact, plus private homes, sometimes with their original furnishings. The small, upscale, ancient city of Herculaneum makes an ideal alternative destination to Pompeii, with fine wall paintings and pristine ancient architecture.
What would Campania be without its food? After all, the sunny, bright flavors that we associate with Italian cuisine have their roots here: San Marzano plum tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, hundreds of types of pasta and classic cheese pizza. These simple, bold ingredients pop up in infinite combinations on the region's tables. Thanks to the region's prolific farmlands, low-cost and healthful ingredients like wheat, olives, fruits and vegetables have always been readily available, many year-round. Not surprisingly, the region's cucina povera, or "poor cuisine," is also one of Italy's healthiest-studies have shown that residents of Naples' poorest neighborhoods traditionally enjoy a very low rate of heart disease, with a diet of grains, fresh produce, olive oil and hardly any red meat. The region's long history as an economic and political underdog has only increased Campanians' pride in their cuisine-its wealth of simple recipes benefitted from slow industrial development and the influences of French, Spanish and North African cooking. Sampling Naples' famous wood-oven pizza is an obligatory stop on any visit. Although some evidence points to topped flatbread eaten on the Italian peninsula as early as the ancient Etruscans, most historians agree that pizza as we know it was born in Naples in the late 19th century. The classic margherita-a circle of chewy dough flattened by hand, topped with stewed tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, extra-virgin olive oil and fresh basil-was originally made there in honor of Margherita of Savoy, Queen of Italy from 1878 to 1900. It is the city's signature dish, folded into quarters and eaten like a sandwich at noon, or savored with a knife and fork at restaurants as late as 4 a.m. Pizza aficionados claim the dough's addictive texture comes from some quality in Naples' water-the same inexplicable element that makes Naples' espresso the best in Italy. Some diehard napoletani know exactly how far the city's water system stretches, and make it a point on road trips to stop and have one last espresso before leaving the radius of their native water supply.

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