Exploring Italy

It’s week three of my sabbatical. I’m loving this time off.

I continue to sift through photographs from my time in Europe, which seems so long ago. Currently where I live, mornings are chilly, yellow leaves have covered our yard, and the air still smells of smoke from the fires just east (my home is safe). And so it feels like we visited Rome, Florence, Positano, and Sorrento ages ago . . .

Looking out to sea in Positano, a cliffside village on southern Italy’s Amalfi Coast. While congested and crowded and probably not a place I’d spend a longer vacation, it certainly is one of the most picturesque places I’ve ever passed through.
A colorful staircase in central Positano. No one was taking photos of these steps, which I thought was odd—they’re so fun!
Another view overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea in Positano on the Amalfi Coast.
Looking down on the shore in Sorrento in southwestern Italy, on the Sorrentine Peninsula.
Details of a wall in an alley in Sorrento.
The magnificent Florence Cathedral—a building I’ve seen in person several times, but the sight never gets old.
Ponte Vecchio in Florence, a bridge spanning the Arno River.
Art on a street corner in Florence.
The Duomo atop the Florence Cathedral, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.
A pole along the river near Ponte Vecchio. I took this exact photo 20 years ago in 1997—and again in 2000.
The Roman Colosseum.
Street art in Rome.
One of the many lovely narrow streets in Trastevere, Rome.
Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) in Rome.
A colorful wall on Via Della Paglia, Trastevere.
A door in Trastevere, Rome (to add to my ever-growing photo collection of doors…)

Images above taken with an iPhone 7. My last post shared photos from Taormina separately. Follow me on Instagram @cherilucasrowlands.

Published by Cheri Lucas Rowlands

I am an editor at Longreads. For over a decade, I've worked on curation, editing, and storytelling projects across Automattic, including WordPress.com.

32 thoughts on “Exploring Italy

  1. Your photography is amazing! I got engaged in Rome-that is the only part of Italy I have visited. I would love to go all around Italy. Your pictures have made it look so magnificent! I hope to travel around Italy one day.

  2. Wonderful photos Cheri. This post brought back so many memories. When Don and I started our nomadic travels we began in Italy. It had long been a dream for both of us. We went to all these places (and several more) except Sorrento. I would go back in a heart beat!
    Alison

  3. Next time you go to Italy, or France, or anyplace in Europe, let me know, most likely I have been and done the research on restaurants—happy to share! 🙂 I think you would love Croatia and Slovenia…

  4. Glad to read that your house and you are safe. These fires were (are) very scary. Italy is so gorgeous. I feel lucky to have visited decades ago when I was still living in France and when people weren’t crowding these Italian cities. I’m happy to see the world so open to everyone, but it means congestion too. Still. You managed to take photos with relatively few people. The set of stairs and the door are my favorites. Florence is also my favorite city in Italy.
    Enjoy your sabbatical!

  5. Bonjour l’artiste,

    Vous êtes vraiment remarquable en matière de photographie. Vos photos sont toujours comme des reportages artistiques. En plus, vos photos nous font voyager avec vous à travers divers pays et elles nous donnent envie de voyager aussi à la découverte de notre commune belle Terre.
    Bons congés sabbatiques.

  6. Did you eat at that café in Florence? I ask, because it is one of my favorites, and not well known. 😊

    I was in Positano in 1994—when it was not crowded, and touristy…and you could get a decent hotel for less than $75….ahhhh.

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