I fell for Ischia well before I ever visited it in person. In the 1999 film “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” the scene where Tom, the main character, “happens” upon Marge and Dickie, the couple he is pursuing, was filmed beneath the island’s Aragonese castle on its golden beach (the Spiaggia dei Pescatori, the beach of the fishermen).

The couple’s beautiful, tanned physiques and relaxed smiles, the perfect sand and tranquil sea, were a cinematic ad to move to Italy, and to Ischia, immediately. Ischia is one of a trio of islands (known as the Phlegraeans) off Naples that also includes Capri and Procida.