My great grandmother, Maria Maddalena Aronne, was from Amalfi. I love that I have roots in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

La costiera Amalfitana is spectacular. I was there about a year and a half ago, and the weather didn't cooperate terribly well - heavy heavy heavy fog.

But it made it seem all the more surreal and dreamlike. In Ravello i walked through Villa Cimbrone's tall pine trees and canopies of purple blossoms.

I was the only one in the whole garden. I walked on this blossom-covered path for what felt like forever, until i reached a big terrace with marble columns and statues. the villa is situated on a cliff, high, high, high up. The fog was so thick and I stood there amazed, watching it fly up and curl over the marble. I couldn't see two feet in front of me. And then I leaned over the rail and looked down and - the whole amalfian coast, right below me, stretching out forever! Villa Cimbrone on a foggy day may qualify as being the most amazing place I've ever been. Have you ever seen A Secret Garden? Ravello feels exactly like that movie. Have you ever come across places that you've already been to in dreams? A while back I had an incredibly vivid dream where I was in this sort of overgrown gorgeous garden-orchard carved into a steep hill like a big staircase. Each level was reachable by a wood ladder. I'd never seen such a place in real life...but these gardens exist! They're on the Amalfi coast! Exactly as in my dream. They are the lemon-tree orchards, carved into the steepest sort of hills imaginable. Amalfi is yellow and turquoise and white. It smells citrus-y and fresh. It feels like a breeze on my face. it tastes like warm ricotta-lemon pastries and gnocchi alla sorrentina. So incredibly lovely.