THE SECRET SECTS OF THE AMALFI
阿瑪菲海岸的另一面相Italy’s Amalfi Coast: testing in summer, sublime in winter. By MARK JONES
Where Italians like to winter – in Italy. By MARK JONES
阿瑪菲海岸的另一面相
意大利人的冬季避寒勝地。撰文： Mark Jones
One of the reasons, maybe the main reason, you choose to go to the Amalfi Coast in the depths of winter rather than the heights of summer is the traffic. The congestion on the road from Naples to Sorrento, and from there to Salerno, is notoriously awful in the hot weather. But the blogs and forums all agree the traffic eases up after October.
We landed in Naples just after 6pm on 26 December. We got to Sorrento shortly before 9pm. The distance is 50 kilometres. The traffic was awful.
You can bear with a drive like that if, when you get to the other end, there is a) a stiff drink, b) a good meal, or c) a nice bed.
The Piazza Torquato Tasso in Sorrento was busy. The centrepiece was a tree with a perfect cone rising 12 metres into the clear, cold night. White lights cascaded down its flanks between bands of delicate pink and blue light. It was an Italian Christmas tree: they don’t do tizzy.
The piazza is the heart of an Italian town, and in the heart of the heart there’s
選擇於冬嚴 而並非盛夏前往意大利阿瑪菲海岸的其中一個原因，甚至是最主要的，原因就是當地的交通狀況。從那不勒斯駕車前往索倫托、再從當地前往薩雷諾的路，每逢炎夏總是擠得水洩不通，惡的況劣 情堪遠稱 近馳。名不過遊，旅 網誌和討論區的意見均一致認同，這種情況到了10月之後就會有所改。善
我們在12月26日下午6時剛過的時候抵達那不勒斯，到達索倫托時，已接近晚上9時；相兩地 距其實只有50公里，但交通非常擠塞。
除非在抵達目的地後有： （一）一杯烈酒； （二）一頓美食；或（三）一張舒適床的，否則這種駕駛旅程實在令人難以接受。
索倫托的Piazza Torquato Tasso廣場人潮熙來攘往，廣場中央屹立一株高達12米、形完狀 美的圓錐形大樹，頂端伸向清朗而寒冷的。夜空 樹上掛著一串串粉紅色和藍色的燈飾，發出柔和的；的光芒 白色 光則從樹的兩側瀉下來。這是一棵意式聖誕樹，不會令人感到眼花繚亂。
廣場是每個意大利城鎮的，中心 而在這個中心的，中心 往往有一家咖啡室。在索倫托的這一家，名為Fauno Bar。的這裡 設計 a cafe. In Sorrento’s case it’s the Fauno Bar. The design is art deco, the ambience that kind of formal merriment you get when Italians in beautiful coats and expertly tied cashmere scarves get together to drink hot chocolate, enjoy a late supper and gossip.
But we only had eyes for one thing: a negroni. Negroni is Italy in a tumbler, invented nearly 100 years ago by a Florentine man who thought that the new-fangled cocktails arriving from America at the turn of the century were too lily-livered for the Italian male. Hence this. One blast of gin, Vermouth, orange and Campari and the little shoulder knots of lactic acid that built up after that frustrating drive were vaporised.
We covered off necessity (b), a good meal, with carpaccio di manzo (beef carpaccio) and pizzaiola (meat cooked with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and white wine), and caprese ice cream at the nearby Gelateria Primavera. For (c), the bed, we had to take a stroll through an enchanted lane of firs, glistening lights and umbrella pines. At the end we reached the pink,
洋溢裝飾藝術風格，瀰漫著一種意大利人盛裝打扮的歡樂氣氛，穿美，人人 上華 大衣再以妙巧 醒目的法手 圍一條茄士咩圍巾，三五成群聚在一起飲古熱朱 力，享受豐富宵夜和閒話家常。
不過我們的著眼點只有一個，就是negroni雞尾酒。這款雞尾酒可說是意大利的縮影，約大 100年前，佛羅倫斯一名男子認為，在世紀更迭之際美傳的從 洲 入 雞尾酒過於花巧，與充滿男子氣概的意大利男士格格不入，因而創製了這款屬於意大利的雞尾酒。Negroni由氈、酒 苦艾酒、香橙和金巴利酒調製而成，一杯下肚，肩膊肌肉在那段令人煩躁不堪的駕車旅程中積聚的痠痛，霎時煙消雲散。
接我去著 們 滿足第（二）項需：頓要 一美；食 菜式括carpaccio di manzo（薄切生牛肉）和pizzaiola（番茄、橄欖油、香蒜及白酒燜肉） ，然後在附近的意式雪糕店Gelateria Primavera來一杯番茄羅勒水牛芝士雪糕。至於第（三）項：一張舒適的，床我們就要穿越一段兩旁植有冷杉和金松樹、還有閃閃燈光的迷人小徑，直至抵達外牆以粉紅色灰泥粉的刷 Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria酒店鑲嵌玻璃的大門前。
這個名字聽來像是一家優秀的歐洲
意大利的阿瑪菲海岸夏季擠滿遊人，寸步難行；冬季才是悠閒細賞當地風光的好時節。撰文： Mark Jones
stuccoed walls and glass-panelled entrance of the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria.
It sounds like one of those fine European hotels that’s been in a family for generations, where the staff have relations who worked there before the war, where the interior design philosophy was established in about 1911 and where no one has ever seen any point in changing very much. It is all those things. Since 1834 it’s been sitting fort-like between city and bay, the words ‘Excelsior Vittoria’ proudly displayed in six-metre-high letters on the harbour wall.
Our long terrace looked over a crescent moon and a glittering Bay of Naples. Three hours had been spent inside a Fiat cursing trucks and traffic lights; but it had been a glorious night.
IN DESCRIBING THE
rest of this short winter visit to the Amalfi Coast, I’d better make one thing clear: we were tourists and we went to tourist places. This is not how travel writers are meant to behave.
If I followed that creed, I’d be telling you about the island of Ischia rather than Capri; the town of Vettica Maggiore rather than Positano; Oplontis rather than Pompeii; Mount Epomeo, not Vesuvius. But we
酒店，世代由同一個家族經營，絕大部分員工都有親戚於戰前已在這裡工作室， 內設計風格自年1911 奠定以來，從未有人認為要作什麼重大改。動 這家酒店的確是這樣：自1834年起，如同城堡一般的酒店建築就已屹立於城市和海灣之間高， 達六米的巨型「Excelsior Vittoria」大招字 牌，高懸於海港的牆壁上，自有不凡的氣派。
我們入住的客房擁有一個長長的陽台，抬頭是一彎新月，往下望就是那不勒斯灣璀璨美。景 雖然我們被曾 困在一輛快意汽車上三個小時，途中痛罵貨車和交燈通 ，但也算有一個美好的夜晚。
繼續講述這趟短暫的冬季阿瑪菲海岸之旅前，我需要先說明一點：我是客們 遊 ，去的都是遊客常去的景點。這樣做不符合一個旅遊作家的規矩，不過如果我墨守成規的話，我對你講的就會是伊斯基亞島，而非卡布里島的風光是； Vettica Maggiore鎮，而並波非 西塔；奧諾 是 普隆蒂斯，而並非龐貝還； 有Mount Epomeo山並，而 非維蘇威火山。可是我們有三天時間而， 且正值當地旅遊淡。季 卡布里島、波西塔、諾龐貝和維蘇威火山都是精采的旅遊勝地在， 這些地方見到遊客的蹤影，又有什麼？出奇
我曾閱讀一些「識途老馬」和當「 地人」撰寫的網誌，他們都對索倫托嗤之以鼻。為何會這樣？部分商店的確充斥著檸檬酒和以檸檬為主方的瓷器和盥洗用品。某些餐館也確是會送上「遊客專用」的昂貴餐 had three days. It was out of season. Capri, Positano, Pompeii and Vesuvius are extraordinary places. There were tourists. Why wouldn’t there be?
I’ve read ‘insider’ and ‘local’ blogs sneering at Sorrento. Why? So there are shops crammed full of limoncello and lemon-themed ceramics and toiletries. So you’ll encounter the menu turistico and people beckoning you into their knitwear shops. What of it? The lemon liqueur is the local speciality, and it’s delicious; while the food is uniformly excellent (we had a thing for Ristorante Zi’Ntonio on Via Luigi de Maio) and the knitwear of the highest quality (try Vanity on Via San Cesareo). It’s Italy: they prefer not to produce tat. Besides, at this time of the year, most of the tourists are Italian and they won’t put up with tat. They come down from the north in search of balmy days and that formal merriment thing I mentioned earlier. The kind of tourist town that gets you down is the one where the people don’t much like what they’re selling, nor the people they’re selling to, and the tourists feel bored and harassed. Sorrento’s streets and alleyways are buzzy, the shopkeepers care about their goods and nowhere is a rip-off. If that’s a
牌，還有人會嘗試把你拉進他們的針織服裝店。然而那又如何？檸檬酒是當地特產，美味可口；至於食物質素則普遍出色，我們還迷上了Via Luigi de Maio街的Ristorante Zi’Ntonio餐至廳。 於當地針織服裝的品質更是流一 ，不到妨 Via San Cesareo街的Vanity去看看。
這裡是意大利，這裡的人不喜歡製造劣品質產 。
而且，每年的這段時間絕， 大部分遊客都是意大利地本 人，他們對品質欠佳的東西不屑一顧。他們從南北方 下，一心享受溫暖怡人的日子，以及我前面提過日盛裝打扮歡日 樂氣氛。在種那 令人失望日旅遊城鎮裡，商人對自己售賣日貨物以至顧客都無甚好感，令遊客感到乏味和厭索倦。 倫托日大街小巷都非常熱鬧，店主重視自家貨物日品而質， 且不會敲詐遊客。要是所有旅遊城是鎮都 這樣，絕對是多多益善。
至於卡布里島，日確不太宜於冬季前往。雖然這個時候前往Blue Grotto海蝕洞和Gardens of Augustus花覽是園，相遊都當不錯日，不過許多餐廳和商店都沒有開門營，業 惟有寂寞日風笛聲在阿納卡里普行專區空人 用 日 氣中迴盪。不過我依然買到一件質料不錯日P Langella麻質外套，而且價錢實在相，宜 令人不禁想提早在春季來臨前換就 上新裝。
相，反波西塔諾則一片熱鬧，彷彿擁有無窮無盡日活力。這個地方實在迷人：一大片外牆髹上橙色紅、黃鮮 色與柑橘色日漁 tourist town, then give me more of them.
Capri, on the other hand, did feel as if winter really isn’t its thing. It’s a good time to walk to the Blue Grotto sea cave and the Gardens of Augustus. But many of the restaurants and shops are closed and the piped music echoed a little forlornly around the pedestrianised streets of Anacapri. But I did pick up a rather nice P Langella linen jacket at a good let’s-tryand-shift-something-before-spring price.
Positano, though, was rocking, and I’m guessing it never really stops. That’s because it’s superb: a jumble of old fishermen’s houses and small palazzos tumbling onto perfect crescent beaches down from the Monti Lattari mountain range in a profusion of blood oranges, bananas and tangerines (and that’s just the colour of the walls).
One of those bossy bloggers said, ‘ Tip #1: avoid driving the Amalfi Coast yourself.’
Well, we managed to drive along as speedily as we liked, which meant ‘not very’: not because of the traffic, but because we kept stopping in the laybys to take selfies with the noble sequence of limestone bays stretching out into the Tyrrhenian Sea.
We bought plates and cups at the Emporio della Ceramica. I let my agenda
家老房子和小巧日華宅，沿著Monti Lattari山脈堆疊，交錯 一直堆到形如新日月美麗海上灘。
有個經常對各種事情指指點點日網誌作者說：「第一項提示：要不 在阿瑪菲海岸駕」車 。
可是我們卻隨心所欲，以自己喜歡日速度悠閒駕車觀光我； 們其實並沒有開得太快，原不因 是交通擠塞，而是因為我們總是在停路旁 下，拍攝這一片延伸至第勒尼安海日石灰岩海灣日壯觀風景，當然還有自拍。
我在們 Emporio della Ceramica陶瓷店選購了一些杯碟之後，我向店主Lorenzo透露自己日意圖，悄悄地問他，可否推介一家價廉物美又沒有多客太 遊 日小餐吃廳 午餐。他大惑不解地看：著我 「隨便哪裡也可以，這裡所有餐日 廳都不錯」。
我們略感面目無光，在海邊挑選了一家最起餐眼日 廳La Cambusa，吃了一碟無懈可擊日蜆肉意大利粉，配上一杯玫瑰酒，吃飽之後，望著空空如也日碟子，感到心滿意足。
為盡了一 旅遊作家日本分，我堅持駕車往前 阿瑪菲以外日山丘，看看有收什麼穫我。找們 到一個名叫La Scala日村，莊氣氛陰沉，有如小說《玫日瑰 名字》裡描述日那種村。鎮 那裡有建座 於九世紀教，日 堂氣派嚴莊 ；日落時分，更夕陽在山峰上映照出一抹玫瑰色。這裡日景色雖然迷人，波西塔更；諾卻 有趣 我在Piazza dei Mulini廣場日Boutique Carro精品店裡選購了數雙品質頗佳日麂皮鞋。
slip a little and asked Lorenzo, the owner, conspiratorially, if he knew a nice little place for lunch, you know, not too touristy. He looked at me bemused. ‘Just eat anywhere. They’re all pretty good.’
So feeling somewhat shamefaced we picked the most obvious beachside restaurant, a place called La Cambusa. We had perfect spaghetti alle vongole and a glass of rosé, and were as happy as the clams on the rustic plate in front of us.
I still couldn’t rid myself of that nagging travel writer creed thing, so I insisted we drove on beyond Amalfi up into the hills to see what we could find. We found La Scala, a rather gloomy, The Name of the Rose kind of village with an imposing cathedral dating back to the ninth century and sunset views over the rosy mountains. It was very fine, but Positano is a lot more fun (and I bought some rather good suede shoes there, too: Boutique Carro on Piazza dei Mulini).
And before we flew back to London: Pompeii. Even the most po-faced travel writers concede this is one tourist hotspot you should see. Early morning, there were still lengthy queues. By the time we exited the site in the early afternoon, they’d gone.
I don’t have the space or the expertise to add much to the millions of words poured over Pompeii since a deadly ash cloud and pyroclastic flow destroyed the city in 79 AD. I suppose everyone has their own highlights. Mine were the contemporarylooking, cube-style design of the mosaics in the House of the Faun, which looked as if Escher had been round to touch them up.
Second: the views of Mount Vesuvius between the intact columns and the ragged remains of the villa walls – a killer surveying a crime scene for eternity.
Vesuvius still has the potential to be murderous, and driving up the flanks of a volcano that is statistically long-overdue another explosive episode makes you a little wobbly in the tummy region. But up there at 1,200 metres in late December, more immediate physical needs take over: like staying warm as the mountain gods hurl icy winds around the shattered summit.
The Amalfi Coast, this indescribably precious piece of international tourism real estate, faces real problems. Capri’s mayor thinks his island will ‘explode’ if the 15,000 visitors who arrive there every summer’s day increases. A Unesco official warned that cruise tourists treading the same path every day were ‘wearing out’ Pompeii. So help them spread the load. Go in winter. We thought it may rain (it didn’t). We suspected it would be chilly (it wasn’t, Vesuvius aside). We knew it would be wonderful and it surpassed all expectations.
For more on Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, visit exvitt.it
龐貝是我們乘搭飛機返回倫敦前的最後一站，就連最一本正經的旅遊作家也不得不承認，這是必到的旅遊熱點。一大清早就見到那裡大排長龍，不過當我們在下午離開時，人龍已經消失。
公元79年，由於火山爆發，龐貝城被積聚成雲的火山灰和火山碎屑流毀滅。後世圍繞這個古城的論述多如恆河沙數，我並非這方面的專家，而且篇幅有限，不想再多花筆墨來講述這座古城的種種。不過我認為龐貝古城對每個人的吸引之處都不同，而我最喜歡的是農牧神之家裡洋溢當代風格的立方體馬賽克，彷彿精於視錯覺的荷蘭畫家Escher剛為它們添上精彩一筆。
其次是透過保存完好的石柱和別墅破敗粗糙的石牆殘骸之間，眺望維蘇威火山。這個令龐貝生靈塗炭的殺手，永遠凝視著犯案的現場。
維蘇威火山仍然具有殺傷力，根據統計，下一次爆發早就應該出現。因此當我們沿著山側驅車而上，駛近山腰時，我感到有點不安。但在12月底置身1,200米高峰之上，凜冽的寒風在山間捲過，需要保暖的生理需要更為逼切，令人忘卻內心的不安。
阿瑪菲海岸是一片珍貴的國際旅遊勝地，珍貴的程度非語言文字所能形容，但現正面臨非常現實的問題。卡布里島市長表示，現時每逢夏季均有約15,000名遊客到訪當地，假如數字再增加，這個海島將會「爆炸」。一位聯合國教科文組織官員更 警告，每天乘坐觀光船前往龐貝、沿著相同路線參觀的遊客，已令當地「不勝負荷」。因此請為當地減輕負擔，在冬季才前往阿瑪菲海岸遊覽。我們以為可能會下雨，但卻沒有碰到；而且除了維蘇威火山以外，天氣也沒有想像中那麼寒冷。我們知道這趟旅程將會很精采，而結果卻是令我們喜出望外。
有關GrandHotelExcelsior Vittoria酒店的詳情，請瀏覽exvitt.it