Scalea
  
     

Scalea is a small resort town, overlooking the Tyrenian Sea, on the western coast of Southern Italy. We used Scalea as a base for our visit to Verbicaro. It’s not a small town, but it’s not a large one either. We must have been there in the off-season, because it wasn’t very busy. Scalea surprised us because it has a very picturesque Old Town, built on a steep hill and topped off by a ruined castle. There’s also a large medieval fortified tower on a beautiful pebble beach. Unfortunately, or fortunately for the people who live there, it’s not very accessible and not an easy weekend drive from Rome or even from Naples. Although it’s a resort town we didn’t meet any English-speaking tourists during our two-day visit. It really was a new experience to be in a small Italian town with just Italians.

     
 
   
   
I took this picture as we drove from Rome to Scalea. I don't know the name of this town, but I think it was about 45 minutes before we reached Scalea. We were all pretty tired by the end of the drive. We had picked up our car and started our drive immediately after landing, so at this point, we had been traveling for over 24 hours. I drove all of the way down, and my brother drove most of the way back.  
   
 
 

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The rooms at the Hotel De Rose were so inexpensive that my brother and I decided to have seperate rooms. This was the view from my balcony, and below is a picture of my room.
 
   
 
 

This is the hotel pool, and two pictures ot the beach, just below the hotel.
The picture below shows a closer look at Scalea's Pebble Beach.
 
 
 
 
           
 
   
     
         
  This is a view of Scalea's Old Town. My nephew Mark and I were determined to see if we could walk up to the ruined castle on top of the hill. The following pictures were taken on our walk.
         
           
 
         
       
On the left, is one of the my best pictures taken on this trip. We made it up to the to top of the hill, and walked through a hole in a fence to get to the castle. The three pictures below were taken from the castle. After admiring the view, we walked back down the hill, and over to the tower on the beach.
       
         
         
       

The picture to the left was taken on the top of the hill from the castle. The picture above was taken from the tower on the beach. The two pictures below are views from the top of the tower. The picture on the left is looking south, and the picture on the right is looking north. The left picture below is a video. Click on the play button to see the view from the tower.

 
 
We were very surprised by the beauty of Scalea. The beach, the color of the water, and the old town perched on a steep hill make it a nice place to stay on a long holiday. Unfortunately, we needed to move on. We had a lot of things that we wanted to see, and only five days left on our seven day trip. So, we drove North along the coast to Paestum, and then to our next overnight stay on the Amalfi Coast.
 
   
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Italian Music Recommendation...

I've been to Italy four times, but the best Italian music I've heard is from Al Fabrizio and Hugo Wainzinger of HeartStrings Music, based in Mountain View, California.

My brother, Joe, heard Al playing in a San Jose mall. He bought one of Al and Hugo's albums and sent it to me. Since then, I've been enjoying their music, and I highly recommend their albums.

This is a picture of me, Al, and Hugo at my nephew Mark's wedding in October 2005. When Mark told me that he was getting married, I told my brother that he should get Al and Hugo to play at the wedding.

My favorite song is their rendition of "Summertime in Venice", from the movie "Summertime", starring Audrey Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi.

Their albums are available on Amazon.com and Cdbaby.com (search Fabrizio).