John Steinbeck's Positano (1953)
On Gingerguide's self-guided Positano audio tour, John Steinbeck's Positano (1953) is a stop worth about ~30 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type historic
- Suggested visit ~30 min
- Positano Positano guide
About John Steinbeck's Positano (1953)
In 1953, John Steinbeck wrote the defining description of Positano for Harper's Bazaar: "It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone", an article that put Positano on the international tourist map.
In 1953, the American novelist John Steinbeck, fresh from completing East of Eden and already the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, visited Positano and wrote a travel article for Harper's Bazaar magazine that has been quoted ever since as the definitive literary description of the village. The article opens with the famous sentence: "Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone." Steinbeck stayed in Positano for several months and fell deeply in love with the village. He described the practicalities of life there (everything arriving by boat, the steps, the weight-bearers who carry goods up and down the mountain), the social life, the food, the light. His article captures something that guidebooks generally do not: the quality of absence and longing that Positano produces in those who have been there. The article is credited with transforming Positano from a place known only to a small artistic and intellectual elite into an international tourist destination. Steinbeck himself noted with some ambivalence that "it is a sad fact that Positano is known only to a few people who find it and keep it as a jealously guarded secret", knowing that his article would end precisely this secrecy.
Did you know? John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962, nine years after his Positano article. The Nobel Committee cited his "realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception". His Positano article, though much shorter than his novels, is considered one of his finest examples of the former quality.
How much time do you need at John Steinbeck's Positano (1953)?
Around ~30 min works well for John Steinbeck's Positano (1953) — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at John Steinbeck's Positano (1953)?
Yes — John Steinbeck's Positano (1953) made the cut as one of 12 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Positano. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Positano
Hear the story of John Steinbeck's Positano (1953)
Preview the Positano tour free in the Gingerguide app.