After a full day at the beach, last night we hiked from Minori to Ravello, an incredible town perched high above the water with beautiful views of the towns of Minori and Maiori below. Big D diligently counted the number of stairs we climbed up the steep and winding path: 1,283.

In Ravello we had dinner at Mimi Pizzeria where we each had our own pie: pizza margherita for Miss M, quattro formaggi (four cheese) for Big D, my pizza was called Rebellum and had cooked ham with dollops of burrata cheese, and Paul’s pizza was called the Costiera. It had ricotta, mozzarella, squash flowers, and an oil with the flavors of anchovies and lemon. It was all delicious.

We made our way to “Ceremiche d’Arte by Pascal” to see the man himself. We’ve been to Italy many times now (Paul six, me five) and therefore have seen more than our fair share of hand painted ceramics. We know unique pieces when we see them, and six years ago bought a piece designed by Pascal in Ravello. Instead of wasting our time this trip browsing many stores, we went straight to Pascal and weren’t disappointed. Pascal was so happy to hear that we were repeat customers, and they now ship for free to the U.S. for any purchase over 200 Euro which is easy to do in his store! He showed me the design purchased by George Clooney, his wife showed us pictures of his six sons as we were matchmaking for Miss M, and he invited us to stay at his villa next trip.

After climbing 1,283 stairs earlier, we rewarded ourselves with gelato. Paul had researched Baffone Gelateria Artiginale and knew it was the best gelato around. It was right down the street from Pascal and it did not disappoint. I had a whiskey/fig flavor called “Nonno Baffone” and cherry, Big D had Oreo and frutti di bosco, and Paul had dark chocolate and the same whisky/fig.

We finally made our way back to the town square with every intention of taking a taxi back down the mountain to Minori so we could call it a night, but the taxi driver wanted 45 Euro for the one way trip! We refused to pay that, knowing it would not take us long to walk back to Minori. Another 1,283 downhill stairs and 35 minutes later, and we were back at sea level.