Positano, Prosecco and a Wedding to Remember

There are some places you visit and think, “Oh, that’s nice.”

And then there are places where you arrive, look around and wonder why you have spent quite so much of your life looking at pictures of them on Instagram instead of actually going there.

Positano is very firmly in the second category.

I arrived in Positano on 25th August, travelling by ferry from Naples, which sounds wonderfully glamorous until you add the small detail that the sea was doing its absolute best to make sure I didn't arrive.

There had been an earthquake, and the sea was decidedly rough as we approached Positano.

What had sounded like a fairly straightforward ferry journey suddenly became something of an audition for The Perfect Storm. The closer we got to the port, the more the boat was being thrown around, and there was a point where I began to wonder whether my arrival in Positano would be by ferry or by flotation device.

Thankfully, the boat made it.

So did I.

Just about.

And then Positano appeared.

It is difficult to describe just how beautiful it is without sounding as though I have swallowed the entire contents of a travel brochure. The town seems to have been designed by someone who was given the brief “Make it impossibly pretty, but also make absolutely everything involve stairs.”

The famous colourful houses tumble down the hillside towards the sea, seemingly stacked on top of one another with no particular regard for conventional town planning. Bougainvillea spills over walls, tiny lanes disappear around corners and everywhere you look there is another view that makes you stop.

And, of course, another flight of steps.

Lots of steps.

So many steps.

I quickly realised that Positano operates on the principle that nothing worth having should be accessible without first making you question your cardiovascular fitness.

But it is worth it.

Every single time.

I was staying at the very grand, beautiful 5 star Hotel Eden Roc, perched above the town with those spectacular views across the Amalfi Coast. It was the perfect base for what was to be a very special few days. There is something rather wonderful about waking up somewhere like Positano and having the Mediterranean spread out in front of you before you have even had your first coffee.

The hotel itself has that feeling of somewhere that understands exactly where it is. You don't need to do very much when the view is doing all the work.

And this wasn't just going to be a holiday.

I was there for a wedding.

A very special wedding.

And, more importantly, a very good friend's wedding.

A very small wedding

There is something rather lovely about a wedding with only four guests, plus the bride and groom.

No seating plan stretching across three pages. No table full of people wondering who everyone else is. No distant relative you've never met cornering you to explain the family tree.

Just six of us.

Six friends who were there because we genuinely wanted to be there.

Along with the officials, a photographer and, rather wonderfully, violinists.

And Positano.

That was pretty much all that was needed.

The ceremony was intimate, personal and incredibly beautiful. With the Mediterranean stretching out beyond us and the colourful houses of Positano climbing the hillside, it was difficult to imagine a more perfect setting.

There are moments at weddings when everything suddenly becomes very real. The joking stops for a moment, everyone becomes quiet, and you realise that you're witnessing something genuinely important.

This was one of those moments.

Of course, being a close friend also means you have to strike a delicate balance between being appropriately emotional and making sure the bride and groom don't become too self-conscious.

Fortunately, we managed this.

Mostly.

There were smiles, there were a few tears and there was a great deal of happiness.

And then came the photographs.

Lots of photographs.

Because apparently when you have been fortunate enough to get married in one of the most beautiful places in Italy, you are legally required to have photographic evidence from approximately every conceivable angle.

To be fair, nobody was complaining.

The photographer led us around some of the most beautiful corners of Positano, capturing the happy couple against the sea, the buildings and those famous views.

It would have been almost impossible to take a bad photograph.

Even I looked reasonably respectable.

Which, given the amount of time I normally spend trying to avoid being photographed, is quite an achievement.

Lunch at Buca di Bacco

After the ceremony and photographs, it was time to celebrate properly.

And where better than Ristorante Buca di Bacco?

The restaurant sits overlooking Spiaggia Grande, with the sea and the unmistakable pyramid of Positano's colourful houses providing the backdrop. It is one of those places where you could quite happily sit down for lunch, look around and decide that perhaps you should just stay there indefinitely.

The wedding breakfast was everything you would hope for from a meal in Positano.

Good food.

Good wine.

Good company.

And a view that made you repeatedly pause halfway through a conversation because you suddenly noticed the scenery again.

There is something particularly special about sharing a meal after a wedding. The formality of the ceremony has gone, everyone can relax and the conversation becomes a mixture of memories, laughter and the inevitable discussion about what happens next.

In our case, there was also probably some discussion about how we were going to negotiate the stairs back to the hotel.

The food at Buca di Bacco complemented the occasion perfectly. The restaurant's approach is rooted in Mediterranean and Amalfi Coast traditions, with the sea, local ingredients and simple flavours taking centre stage.

But ultimately, it wasn't really about the food.

It was about sitting around a table with people you care about, looking out over one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the world and knowing that you were there to celebrate two people you genuinely love.

And that is what I will remember.

Positano

There are plenty of places in the world that are beautiful.

Positano is different.

It is almost absurdly beautiful.

The kind of beautiful that makes you suspicious that someone has turned up the saturation on the entire town.

The sea is an impossible shade of blue. The buildings glow in the sunshine. The little streets are full of colour, flowers, restaurants and people. Boats move slowly across the water and, wherever you stand, there seems to be another view that is somehow better than the last.

But what made the trip particularly memorable wasn't simply being in Positano.

It was why I was there.

I hadn't travelled to the Amalfi Coast simply to tick another destination off a list.

I was there for someone I cared about.

I was there to watch a very good friend get married.

We were there as six people, surrounded by a handful of people making the day possible, in a place that seemed almost too perfect to be real.

And perhaps that's why the whole experience felt so special.

The rough ferry crossing, which at the time seemed like a terrible way to begin the trip, became part of the story.

The endless stairs became a running joke.

The photographs became memories.

The food became part of the celebration.

And Positano became the backdrop to one of those days that you know you will remember for a very long time.

Would I go back?

Absolutely.

Would I take the ferry again?

Let's just say I'd like to think that next time the Mediterranean and I could agree to disagree. But would I change a thing about the trip?

Not a chance.

Because sometimes the best memories aren't the ones that go completely according to plan.

They're the ones where you arrive slightly windswept, possibly seasick, completely overwhelmed by the view, and find yourself standing in one of the most beautiful places you've ever seen, surrounded by people you love, celebrating something genuinely wonderful.

And that, for me, was Positano.

Beautiful, chaotic, unforgettable Positano.

And one very special wedding.