Da Emilia, Sorrento

nicolawaters from London

Last updated at 14:31 13 April 2005

You find some of the best things on holiday when you think you're lost.

My friend and I had heard great things about this restaurant on via Marina Grande. So we set off to find it, through the spectacular Piazza Vittoria, where couples nuzzle against the railings that give out over the bay of Naples.

We walked past the stunning Hotel delle Sirene and wondered at how such a beautiful establishment, in such breathtaking surroundings, could betray its name by installing a man with a synthesiser in the balmy, candlelit courtyard, to play wobbly versions of Celine Dion 'hits'.

On we walked, as the street became narrower and the lights became more infrequent. The map wasn't telling us anything: the road just sort of petered out on it, and there was a caveat in pigeon English in the map's key anyway, saying many of the paths were 'conceptual'. Hmm.

But eventually we reached the end of the road, now just a cobbled slope and realised we were perched above the Marina Grande, where the waves were shushing in and out a few hundred yards below.

We took another path, a steep alleyway with lots of steps, that wove past clean doorsteps and underneath people's washing. Eventually, emerging onto the small (Grande?) beach we saw a simple restaurant with a platform on the beach, right on the edge of the water.

Sitting drinking the local wine and eating freshly caught fish in the moon and candlelight, we reckoned it was about as perfect as you could imagine. Good value too and as far as I could tell we were the only non-Italians there.

Definitely worth the circuitous walk to find it, this delicious experience should be sought out by anyone wishing to get away from the coach party throngs of main street Sorrento.

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