Southern Italy Photo Diary

by my first ever guest contributor!

Hi, hello, happy Tuesday! I am thrilled to announce my first ever guest contributor, Sam Hyams. Sam is one of my dear friends and an extremely well-traveled human. Sam is insanely creative and has a knack for film photography. After his trips, he generously shares his photos with me and I cherish getting to look through all of them - they are genuinely amazing. I have been begging him to do a photo diary for my Substack and he finally indulged me. The photos will make you feel like you’re enjoying your summer holiday on the Italian coast, with a spritz in hand (I’m drooling over these) + some thoughtful travel tips in the captions. You can find his Instagram here where he shares stunning photos of his other trips and also some really cool videos. Enjoy xx.

Honored beyond measure to be here doing a guest spot.

My family and I just got back from a two-week trip to southern Italy, in which the basic structure was: Napoli + (Day trip to Rome) → Capri → Matera → Amalfi Coast (Ravello, Amalfi, Positano, + more).

Napoli

Pic 1: One of the pizza places our Airbnb host informed us of (I think it has been in a lot of movies as well, pics of Julia Roberts on the wall). Weird number process to actually get in, but eventually got in to chow down.

Rome

Pic 2: Biking the Appian Way was for me one of the highlights of our trip. Highly recommend getting some e-bikes and doing it. Lots of cool ruins along the entire route.

Pompeii

Pic 3: Pompeii should be done as early as possible. Nowhere to hide from that sun once it gets above the walls (Which were significantly taller than I thought they would be for some reason).

Pic 4: My parents (and I [not pictured]) waiting for the train after visiting Pompeii. I honestly wouldn’t recommend staying in Napoli long, do Pompeii, eat at a pizza place, and get on with whatever else you are doing for your trip

Capri

Pic 5: Sunrise at Capri. My dad is an actually good photographer and is also the one who plans all of our vacations. He catches most every sunrise and sunset. I try and keep up, but the days are also jam-packed with activities, so this is one of the sunrises I managed to peel myself out of bed for.

Pic 6: Capri is so fun to just walk around in. Loved this little car thing

Pic 7: Kara liked this one a lot

Pic 8: Capri Rocks. Highly recommend a sunset boat tour. We were able to essentially circle the whole island in about 2 hours? Our captain knew where Mobile, Alabama was since he was very into WW2 history. Great guy

Pic 9: Boats waiting to go into the Blue Grotto in Capri. I thought this seemed too touristy and fought my dad on going, but he was right. It is a cliffside cave that is only accessible by these rowboats, where the water inside is illuminated by the sunlight

Matera

Pic 10: Morning in Matera. Completely stole the show for me this trip. Absolutely beautiful town with some great food as well. We did a walking tour, and it was well worth it. Fun fact: Matera is the third oldest continuously inhabited city in the world after Aleppo and Jericho.

Pic 11: Sunset in Matera. The newest James Bond film is what helped us find Matera. The Passion of the Christ was also filmed there, and they were actively filming scenes for The Chosen while we were in town.

Amalfi Coast

Pic 12: Looking back at Atrani. If you are considering an Amalfi Coast visit, just be mindful of how you are going to get around. We did a lot of walking during this portion of the trip.

Pic 13: The City of Amalfi. Lovely!

Pic 14: My Sister Cheffing it Up! My Mom is a big cook, so we always do a cooking class of some sort on our trips. Cooked a lot of veggie-based appetizers and Gnocchi pasta. And yes, JBL speakers are universal.

Pic 15: Positano Overlook. I think Positano was the prettiest village on the Amalfi Coast. Great shopping (my sister and mom tore it up) and just tremendous vibes.

Pic 16: Amalfi Beachfront. I can’t take too much credit for this picture. I saw a very similar one on Instagram before our trip and replicated it.

Pic 17: Hotel? Our last day of vacation was a boat day, where we rented a boat and just drove down the coast. Highly, highly recommend.

Pic 18: I loved this sailboat. This was also on our boat day.

For those who need a complete audiovisual experience, I also created a short video to commemorate the trip that I will leave here for those who have gotten this far. Feel like you can get a more appropriate vibe of our trip this way. Starring in no particular order: My parents, my sister, Antonio, Marco, Daniel, Sylvio, Alecia, Daniel Craig, and myself.