Kristin Connors

Some hotels are places you sleep. Mezzatorre is a place you sink into. Our first stop on Ischia was the Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa, set right on the water on the island's northwest coast, and from the moment we arrived, the whole stay had this golden, unhurried glow — like the hotel itself had decided what kind of trip this was going to be, and we were just along for it. (Correct decision,

Capri is the kind of place you've seen a thousand photos of, and then you get there and realize the photos were holding back. The blue, first of all. I'd braced myself for beautiful water — it's Capri, obviously — but nobody warned me about the shades of it. Deep navy out past the cliffs, turquoise where it shallows, an almost electric cobalt in the shadows of the rock. You stand at a viewpoint

Some islands you visit. Ischia you surrender to. I'd been dreaming about a proper Italian summer island escape — the kind where the days have no edges and the biggest decision is swim now or swim later — and Ischia delivered it completely. This is the green island in the Bay of Naples, all lemon groves and volcanic hills and water so clear it doesn't look real, and it runs on its own clock. You