Evening in Sorrento

Sorrento is a bustling holiday town during the day, but it's in the evening that it really comes alive. The heat is not so fierce as during the day, however it's still pleasantly balmy. The narrow pedestrian streets are busy with tourists; shopping, sitting in the open air cafés, or just wandering along eating ice cream. Lemons are very much the theme here - lemon soaps, lemon scented candles, lemon designs on ceramics and fabrics, and of course the ubiquitous liqueur Limoncello. And this season the shops are full of lacy white shift dresses which are very pretty. The streets are also full of music - guitarists and singers performing traditional Italian songs such as O Sole Mio, Volare or Funiculi Funicula. The latter song was written in Naples in the 19th century to commemorate the opening of the funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius. The funicular is long defunct due to an eruption in 1944, but the song remains hugely popular around here.