Category Archives: casetta arienzo

Two weeks in the sun

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We’ve now been in Positano for a fortnight and have gone from a pasty white colour to a burnished brown (Jean) and a slightly brown tinge (Me). Our stress levels have dropped and our ability to spend time doing next to nothing has increased.

Positano is busy but less busy than last year. The number of people in the village each day seems less and everyone – including the locals – seem happier about that. The general consensus seems to be that 2024 is a return to 2022 visitor levels.

The main reason for this seems to be a reduction in the number of American visitors holidaying this year versus last year.

By coincidence, there is an article on stuff.co.nz today (originally from the Washington Post) looking at tourism on the coast and painting a pretty grim picture of the numbers and the crowding. Some of it rings true but, based on our two weeks, some of it seems to be more about last year than this year.

This last few days we had a visitor from the north staying with us. Our friend Tina has been on holiday in Tuscany and she came down to stay in the casetta for a few days. Days of wine and … more wine.

After two weeks it is time for us to move on to Tuscany – high speed train from Napoli to Firenze, then a rental car to Radda in Chianti and our place for the next few days – Relais Vignale.

As a farewell to Positano, here are a grab-bag of images from the last week.

Casetta Arienzo at night
Bloke trying to look cool
Woman trying to look cool
Shopping
Casa Bottega lunchtime view
A friend from home joins us for a few days in Positano – Ciao Tina

Carved out of the cliff

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When we say that Casetta Arienzo is carved out of the cliff, we are not kidding. The best place to see this is in the laundry/downstairs toilet. I’ve posted about this before but it still amazes me the work that went in to building this place. You can still see the holes where the builders drilled into the cliff.

Has anyone we know invested in a local villa recently?

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We spotted this lovely villa on our walk to the village in Positano.

Sweet treats

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Tony works at Eden Roc hotel and, among other things, manages the breakfast service. He is a lovely man with a happiness and joy about him that is infectious. Even the grumpiest breakfast customer is inevitably won over by his charm and eagerness to make “Tony’s breakfast” the most important meal of the day.

Even on days that we don’t have breakfast at the hotel but come later to spend time around and in the pool, he appears with a small box of sweet treats for us (well me actually) – a selection of the cakes and pastries he knows I like – that we can bring back to the casetta and eat later.

Good Morning Positano

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Get up. Put the kettle on. Open the front door. Not a bad way to start the day.

Wellington’s leaking pipes crisis reaches Positano

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Just as Wellington Water cleaned up a major leak on Kent Terrace yesterday, a leak in Casetta Arienzo robbed us of our hot water.

Yesterday afternoon a loud hissing started emanating from the roof of the casetta. A plume of hot steam started to appear above the villa and the hot water supply promptly stopped. For those not familiar with Italian plumbing (myself included) when houses are built into cliff-sides it’s usual for things like water cylinders, gas tanks, wiring, piping and electrics to be mounted externally. Hence the dramatic steam display when our hot water tank (sitting on the roof of the casetta) failed.

It was enough to stop passers by who stared, pointed, looked worried, and asked each other meaningful questions which we didn’t know the meaning of.

A quick call to the hotel and our friend Pascal arrived on his trusty Vespa. He looked both confused and worried, and after making sure we were ok disappeared up the path that led to the roof and the tank. He took on the steaming monster singlehanded and seemed to win.

He managed to stop the noise and the steam and the water that had started to cascade down the cliff, but restoring the hot water was a job for a professional. First thing this morning a plumber – whose name might have been Mario – arrived at the cassetta and within 15 mins the hot water was back on.

Maybe we should see if Wellington Water would like to use the services of Mario?