#ischia

#ischia

What sets this isolated rock apart from the competition? It's a question of substance and that ghastly overused word, "authenticity." Capri will always be the pretty one - the view from the Via Krupp and the Faraglioni as seen from La Fontalina are starlet gold - and the island of Procida took recent fame as Europe's 2022 culture capital. Still,

As we boarded the ferry from Naples to Ischia, all I could think about was how similar it felt to standing in line at a theme park. Anticipation and anxiety hung in the air, along with the faint, sweet smell of sunscreen. Children fidgeted in the relentless August heat. But we took it all in stride because a big payoff-in this case, that roller coaster high of a fabulous Italian island vacation-was waiting on the other side.