Family-run hotel on the Amalfi Coast

It's common that on the Amalfi Coast... almost all of the families have a unique story worthy of telling. Some of them come from far and beyond the borders, but ours comes from the Balkans, where our grandfather Domenico fought the second world war: his nickname was Cicciopeppe, because of the time he spent at the side of Francis Joseph of Austria.

Wounded in battle and thankfully helped by a brigade of Yugoslav resistance, he went through all sorts of danger, pain and, finally, love. Young Adele brought spring into his heart and he dressed her like a soldier in order to smuggle her across the border and into Italy.

Once they had arrived in Furore, in a wonderful small location, nearby where our family-run hotel on the Amalfi Coastis located, in Praiano, that feeling blossomed and the couple soon got married. From that marriage, in 1947 their first girl was born, Erminia, my mother.

Maybe it was because of the temperate climes, maybe the romantic atmosphere of the Amalfi Coast, whatever it was, the fact remains that from their love another eleven children were born in less than twenty years! I can’t even imagine the laughter and the noise coming from that house.

As years passed by, the children became men and women and the family grew even further in number, counting me as one of the newborns. Today I have 35 cousins, all deeply bound to one another with family ties.