Italy Day Four: Positano

Woke up late to a large breakfast served on the terrace off our room. Complimentary breakfast comes with the room which consisted of bread, butter, croissant, coffee and yogurt. For an additional 4 Euro you can get bacon and eggs. The bacon was THICK cut with no visible fat and the eggs seasoned and scrambled. The coffee black, strong and dark as the ace of spades.

Headed into the heart of Positano and had some pizza then hit he beach all day. I listened to music, the Mrs read. She may be into her fifth book for all I know as she’s totally engrossed from morning til dark in her nook.

Some observations-
The men here wear their pants tight as can be and use an incredible amount of hair gel. These dudes would make Justin Beiber blush the way they primp. Somewhere in the middle of the frumpiness of the way we dress in the states and the way the men in Italy coif themselves is probably where my happy medium exists.

There are also a few things that Italian men are quite comfortable doing in public (and when I say in public I mean right up in your grill while you are holding a conversation with them)-

Picking their noses and readjusting their nutsack and/or penis. It is amazing to me how you can be talking to someone and they go right into a knuckle deep nose pick like it ain’t no thing. All I can think of when this happens is “Really? You’re really just gonna dig right in there while we exchange pleasantries?”

The nutsack and/or penis readjustment thing is altogether different than the nosepick thing though. They aren’t pretending it isn’t happening while in your company.

It’s more of a “Yeah I know you’re right in front of me but I’m gonna push my junk around in my way too tight jeans. You see, it’s my penis down there. Yep I’ve got a penis and it’s right here in my way too tight jeans. Have you noticed I’ve got a penis in my way too tight jeans? Because, you know if you didn’t I can do some more readjusting of my nutsack and/or penis just to drive the point home.”

The beach here in Positano is made up of dark sand and bluish gray tumbled stone. The rounded stones make for an interesting place to rest, not nearly as uncomfortable as one might think. We rented two beach chairs from a guy $15 Euro and got in a much needed rest day from the go-go of Rome.

Dinner was at
La Tagliate

You take a bus up to the top of the mountain. A stunning outdoor room with an equally stunning view. You don’t order from a menu. They bring course after course, Sista Felicia style trying to take you down in a food coma because you simply can’t resist any of the culinary delights. It is owned by one family and they all work there. It gets Trip Advisors #1 rated restaurant in Positano and it lives up to the billing. They sent a car for us and dropped us off and it was a good thing. It took about a half hour to wind our way all the way to the tippity top of Positano and once there the view down was absolutely breathtaking.

First course- legumes and roasted eggplant, cheeses including the creamiest most delicious ricotta I’ve ever eaten (Felicia this made that Ricotta from Detroit taste like Dog Poop, or at least what I imagine Dog Poop tastes like) , then salads, breads, pastas, then plates of pork, steak, rabbit, and chicken. Locally made wine which was going down sooo smoothly, then lemoncello and grappa. Then dessert of profiteroles and “mama’s special cake”. Stuffed, I mean STUFFED. The brother and sister were always coming by the table to talk and laugh and make sure everything was to your liking. Every course was three to five different items.

The bill comes and it’s only $70 Euro. I asked if it was a mistake because honestly just what we had to drink I would have thought could have justified $70 Euro let alone the car service and the food.

Let me be clear- This was no semi-clean roadside dive, this was the nicest place we’ve eaten by far since we’ve been in Italy. Even though you read in travel guides that tipping is not expected we dropped an extra 20 Euro because I couldn’t consciously leave there without showing my gratitude.

This would be the absolute best place for a rehearsal dinner. The family is hilarious and gets the whole room jumping and in the party mood. They were pouring shots and doing them with us and more. Fun, beautiful, friendly, great service, great food, great room, great view- No Brainer must visit if you ever come to Positano.