For more than twenty years, we lived between two summers.
Our life was in Sydney, where Ivan and I owned four Italian fashion boutiques specialising in shoes and accessories. But with Australia being on the other side of the world, our seasons were completely opposite. While Sydney was heading into winter, Italy was just beginning its beautiful summer.
For Ivan, who was born and raised in Naples, it was a chance to return home, reconnect with family and friends and enjoy everything he had grown up loving. For me and our girls, it became a summer tradition we looked forward to all year.
And so, every June, it was time to pack our suitcases and head back to Italy for two and a half months.
Yes, two and a half months!
Of course, there was one small complication. In Australia, the long summer school holidays fall in December and January, which meant taking our two girls out of school right in the middle of the Australian school year.
So every year, we needed special permission from their school principal. Surprisingly, getting that permission was always quite easy. Their primary school principal, Mrs Hallahan, absolutely adored Italy, and Capri happened to be one of her favourite places.
Perfect! We had something in common.
Whenever I asked Mrs Hallahan about our extended Italian summer holidays, her eyes would light up.
"Of course, darling! As long as you do some homeschooling. Besides, they'll learn so much from being there, the language, the culture and a whole different way of life!"
And I couldn't have agreed more. After all, what better way to grow up than experiencing a little la dolce vita every summer?
I always made sure to bring her back a beautiful pair of Italian leather sandals.
It was a lovely arrangement.
Two Summers, Every Year
We never missed an Italian summer in over twenty years, apart from the two summers when I was pregnant.
Our trips weren't entirely holidays. The first couple of weeks were always dedicated to business. We would visit our Italian suppliers, finalise our buying and organise our shipping container back to Sydney.
Once everything was packed and on its way to Australia, our holiday could officially begin.
Capri, Positano, Sorrento, Amalfi. These were places we returned to year after year, spending time with family and friends, discovering new restaurants and revisiting our favourite spots.
And what I loved most was the Italian summer lifestyle.
The long lunches that somehow turned into late afternoons, the music drifting out of little bars and restaurants, the sound of people chatting and laughing in the piazzas, and those beautiful warm evenings when nobody seemed to be in a hurry to go home.
And, of course, the food!
Nothing makes me happier than sitting at a little seaside restaurant with a plate of spaghetti con le vongole, my absolute favourite, a glass of chilled white wine and a view of the Mediterranean.
Simple things, but somehow they always taste better in Italy.
Then there was the shopping.
Being in Italy during June, July and August meant I could buy the latest European summer fashion, enjoy the beautiful weather and return to Sydney with a wardrobe full of Italian clothes, fabulous shoes and a European summer tan.
The timing couldn't have been better.
Everyone Wanted a Little Piece of Italy
By September, spring was arriving in Sydney and our new Italian spring/summer collections were landing in our stores.
I would organise the displays, email our customers and invite them to our new-season launches, often with an aperitivo evening.
Our customers loved these events.
But something interesting started happening.
They would arrive to see the latest Italian shoes and handbags, but before long, the conversations would turn to our summer in Italy.
"How was Capri this year?"
"Where did you stay in Positano?"
"What's your favourite restaurant in Amalfi?"
Suddenly, we weren't talking about shoes anymore!
I would find myself sharing photographs, restaurant recommendations and stories about our summer adventures. Everyone wanted to know where to go, what to see and where to find those little places that only a Neopolitan would know.
For many of our customers, the Amalfi Coast was somewhere they dreamed of visiting. And for those who had already been, it was somewhere they couldn't wait to return to.
Looking back, I think those conversations planted the very first seeds of Casa Amalfi, long before we even had a name for it.
When One Chapter Ends
By 2019, the retail world was changing, and after many wonderful years in fashion, Ivan and I decided it was time to close our stores and begin a new chapter.
We had spent decades travelling between Australia and Italy, building a business, raising our daughters and creating so many memories along the way.
Returning to Naples, Ivan's hometown, felt like a natural next step.
And somewhere along the way, an idea that had been quietly growing finally began to take shape.
What if we could create something that captured everything we loved about this beautiful part of Italy?
Not another fashion collection, but something different.
Something that could bring back a memory of Capri, a summer in Positano or a beautiful evening on the Amalfi Coast.
I wanted to bring together all the things I had fallen in love with over the years. The colourful maiolica tiles, the beautiful hand-painted ceramics, the scent of lemons and flowers drifting through the streets, the crisp Italian linens and all those little details that make this coastline so unmistakably special.
The colours, the fragrances, the craftsmanship and the traditions. Everything that makes the Italian lifestyle so beautiful.
Why couldn't we bring all of those things together under one brand?
A collection of beautiful things inspired by the places we loved, created in Italy and designed to be enjoyed wherever you are in the world.
That idea became Casa Amalfi.
And sometimes I think back to those evenings in our Sydney boutiques, surrounded by Italian shoes and handbags, with a glass of prosecco in hand, telling our customers about our latest summer adventures.
Little did I know that all those years later, those very conversations would become part of the story of our next business.
Casa Amalfi wasn't an idea that happened overnight. In many ways, it had been coming home with us in our suitcases for over twenty years.
