The sun is shining on our guests in Amalfi this week. It is a lovely spring on Italy’s most gorgeous stretch of coastline. Our Amalfi Coast Untour is in full swing. Guests fill cafe tables on the piazza and soak up sun on their terraces. It is stark contrast to my trip in January.
Why would anyone go to the Amalfi Coast in the depths of winter? I asked myself this question as we arrived in a mid-January deluge, our driver zipping along switchbacks to crest the mountain in Agerola. Rivers of water poured into the roadway, and soon after, the hail started. Water poured off staircases like waterfalls and lights flickered in the houses around us.
Yes, the weather may be dodgy, many restaurants on holiday and even some major sites closed. But winter is a great time to visit and inspect empty apartments. In fact, it is the only time we can get in to inspect apartments, when the tourists are gone and these popular accommodations sit vacant.
In the midst of Mother Nature’s fury, I managed to see 26 apartments. A few were properties I have sold but never visited. The rest were new possibilities. The Amalfi Coast rental market is hot, hot, hot. We have to go in the depths of off season to see anything. By the time early spring rolls around, almost every apartment on the coast is booked.
The rents are high in Amalfi, and apartments seem to fill regardless of their quality. We feel right to expect the best for the prices we are paying, but some owners are loath to make improvements. If your apartment was booked solid from April to November, why would you?
A month ahead of my trip, I had already eliminated a long list of properties, many with an agent who knows our clients and needs quite well. Too many steps. Bad access. Outside of town. Not up to our standards.
We’d winnowed down the list, and even at that, I signed contracts on a tiny fraction of what I saw. I pointed out maintenance concerns to agents as we went, whether I was considering the apartment for our guests or not. It is a good time for owners to get in to make improvements, but it is also a time when things are not quite as they would be in season.
Patio furniture is piled up in storage and sheets draped over couches. Some owners use their empty property as a clubhouse for family lunches until the season starts. I pointed out clutter that would indeed be removed before the season begins. I kept lists to follow up on. I need to be certain that owner’s daughter’s sticker collage is scraped from the glass door of the china cabinet before our guests arrive!
I fell in love with the Mara apartment in Atrani. When I saw it, the owners were in the process of repainting everything. I was happy to lift tarps to inspect furniture and test couches. These folks care about their apartment and reinvest in its maintenance. It was one of just four new apartments I added to our roster. As if to confirm my decision, shortly after my US return, I was informed they added WiFi to the apartment. Though my favorite feature of the apartment is low tech: the balconies off of each bedroom and the living room, with perfect views of the sea.
On that marathon day with my favorite agent in Amalfi, she pointed out that the sea view was different than usual, snapping a photo with her phone. “Look, An-DRE-ah, the sea is brighter than the sky!” Indeed. And fog shrouded the mountains.
We had passed a busy morning looking at apartments together, me politely cataloging flaws and thoughtfully weighing options. There are no perfect apartments in Amalfi. Rather we must choose the most appealing and functional and clearly describe each, the best features and any drawbacks, however small.
The agent invited me to join her and her husband for a simple lunch at their apartment. After a morning of listening to me rule out apartments with vast terraces but odd internal configurations or subpar furniture, I think she was a little nervous as she turned the key in her own front door. “This is not a vacation apartment. I am sorry, but no views or terraces,” she said with a warm chuckle. “All of those go to the rich and the tourists.” Her apartment was lovely, cozy, homey. And it didn’t have a single window. Atrani is built into a cliff and she was on the ground floor.
On UnTours, we strive to let guests live like a local, but we must reinterpret that in each region where we operate and adapt to the realities on the ground, or up in the cliffs as it were. And I would definitely rule out January, a time when only the locals can survive!