travel
Spa for the Spirit
Former Fodor’s editor Robert Fisher shares his passion
for Italy’s Amalfi Coast
WRITTEN BY JULIA MARTIN
INFINITY AND BEYOND The Belvedere
(“beautiful view”) of Infinity terrace at the Villa
Cimbrone in Ravello offers a view writer Gore
Vidal called “the most beautiful ... in the world.”
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BACK TO SCHOOL 2019 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
R
obert Fisher will be the
first to admit he has
a serious addiction —
to Italy’s Amalfi Coast.
When he first visited the
region about 20 years
ago as a Fodor’s guide-
book editor, he was
blown away by its
beauty.
“Instead of a painting
hanging on a wall, I was
surrounded by unframed
paintings; it was like
walking through a 3-D
Titian or Botticelli,” says
Fischer, who moved to
Montclair in 2016. “I
remember standing on
the Belvedere of Infinity,
high above the Amalfi
Coast, and telling
myself, ‘If this is para-
dise, I’m ready, take me
now.’”
Fisher’s enthusiasm
for Italy’s Campania
region and his 1999 book for
Fodor’s, Escape to the Amalfi
Coast, which was reviewed in Condé
Nast Traveler, helped spur a travel
boom to southern Italy. Two more
coffee table books about what he
calls the “gigglingly gorgeous” gar-
dens of the region followed: Close
to Paradise: the Gardens of Naples,
Capri and the Amalfi Coast, and
Gardens of the Amalfi Coast.