Although I'm not positive about the name of the hotel where we stayed (back in those days every trip seemed like the last one that we'd be able to afford), every time someone mentions Ravello it brings back wonderful memories and a pledge to return soon. I have my old Karen Brown book with a checkmark next to the Hotel Caruso Belvedere and the description sounds right, but I can't be certain.

I remember a wonderful hotel room with a balcony overlooking the Gulf of Sorrento where we spent every evening watching the sun set accompanied by a bottle of 5000-lira wine (that area's version of "Two-buck Chuck".) The hotel's restaurant was also on a hillside balcony, and every evening there were fireworks from the shore below that went off at our level so it seemed like we were in the middle of the display. We spent our days walking around the Amalfi Coast towns and marvelling at the bus drivers negotiating the coastal drive. I enjoyed driving the road, although I was one of the slowest drivers there and, since there aren't a lot of pull-outs, didn't make a lot of friends.

We spent four days in Ravello at the beginning of a driving trip which continued down the southwestern coast of Italy, across the straights of Messina for a week in Sicily, then an overnight ferry from Palermo to Naples and home from Rome. I remember that the mushroom season was in full swing in the southern mountains so I suspect that we were there in October.

One thing I don't recommend is what we did: driving directly to Ravello after arriving on a sleepless overnight flight from San Francisco. I was much younger and foolish(er) then.

Like I say, I'm not sure of the specifics, but I have a friend that rented a villa for a month with a some friends a few years ago. I don't remember exactly, but I think she told me the cost was either $20,000 or $40,000 # I doubt the difference mattered to them. I can probably get you that info if you'd like.

Regards, Al Sonoma, CA, USA