So they say . . . “Its beauty is an epic one: cliffs that are the very embodiment of time, bougainvillea-shaded pathways overlooking the sea, trees seemingly hewn out of rock by the Greeks.”

But what actually captivated my attention was a painting, entitled Amalfi Cappuccini by Carl Frederic Aagaard (b. 1833 in Denmark; click on painting for enlargement). I felt this strange sense of familiarity - as if I had taken a stroll there many years past - yet I have never set foot there. The spatial design of this painting is highly commendable. Notice the multiple lines of perspective which drawn you into its calm serenity. One experiences inner enclosure, a beatitude invoked by the classical architectural lines shaded by the Nyctaginaceae vines. Simultaneously, that leads to open promises along the horizon where the eye is greeted by the magnificent Mediterranean Sea (actually, the Golfo di Salerno).

One of Ravello’s attractions is the Palazzo dei Rúfolo (monuments date back to the 11th to 13th centuries—Arab-Sicilian art at its peak), where Wagner found inspiration for his Klingsor’s magic garden in his opera Parsifal.

Then I discover Amalfi is one of 50 Places of a Lifetime by National Geographic.

And there’s Gore Vidal’s endorsement: “Fifty-one years ago, just out of the army, I was looking for a place to write until at least the end of the century. I came to Ravello on a bright, cold day in March where I stood on a limestone cliff overlooking the Gulf of Salerno, Paestum opposite me, and I thought - and think - this is the most beautiful spot on Earth and so, in due course, I made it my own, and so it will remain until the next lucky visitor takes my place among the cypresses, the lemons, the vineyards of Magna Graecia where thesea-sky are so intensely blue [photo]that you cannot tell where one begins and the other leaves off.”

So we have triangulated the location of Paradise by the works of a painter, composer, and writer. Most certainly Amalfi is now on my agenda (nota bene: 89 kilometers southeast of the Napoli Capodochino airport). Creative forces seem to be gently giving me directions. Ciao!