Sorrento in Italy is a small town just around the bay from the city of Naples. A room with a sea view will greet you every morning with the spectre of Mount Vesuvius looming directly across the bay. As with most of the towns in the area, most of the town is centred along a single street, Corso Italia, where the Cathedral is located. The largest square in town is Piazza Tasso, with more churches, more shops, and even more restaurants. The town is fairly quiet in the morning, even in the tourist season, but after the midday siesta it's surprising how little room there is to move - and watch out for the mopeds.

Swimming

If you're looking for golden sands to relax on, you should give Sorrento a miss as there's no beach at all. There are a few sunbathing decks at the bottom of the cliffs if you insist on getting to the water's edge, but for sunbathing and swimming the best idea is to use the pool area you'll find on top of a lot of the hotels in the town.

Dining

There are so many places to eat that it can get difficult to choose, but to avoid spending a fortune, it's best to stay away from Corso Italia and find a little restaurant tucked away in the back streets; the food is better, the portions are bigger, and you won't have to pay nearly as much. Try Spaghetti Con Aglio e Olio which is spaghetti with just roasted garlic and chilli-flavoured olive oil - magnificent.

Shopping

When you've finished eating, the shopping areas are close by too - loads of leather goods, jewellery, local arts & crafts (inlaid wood pictures are the local speciality), and local drinks to take home for further sampling. Do make sure you shop around, you'll find that in some of the larger shops you can pay three or four times as much for some things as you could elsewhere.

Easter Parade

If you go to Sorrento at Easter time, you can watch a strange ritual taking place - the Easter Procession. At 3.30am and 8.00pm, a brass band walks slowly through the town playing the death march, followed by a large number of people carrying symbols of the crucifixion - crucifix, nails, cockerel, crown of thorns etc. During the morning procession these people wear white robes and hoods reminiscent of the Klu Klux Klan, whereas in the evening procession the robes are black, and the statue of the Virgin Mary is replaced by a 'Black Madonna'. The air is full of the smell of incense which is carried by some of the participants, while in most of the upper windows of the surrounding buildings, candles have been lit. It is altogether a very creepy experience, but not to be missed.

Sorrento as a Base

Sorrento is an ideal place to stay as a base for trips to Pompeii, Herculaneum, Vesuvius, Capri, and along the spectacular Amalfi coast, but has a charm all of its own. They even have their own song - Tornir a Sorrento (Come Back to Sorrento). You'll hear it a lot, and virtually every musical trinket box in the craft shops will play it.