AS WE BOARDED the 90-minute ferry from Naples to Ischia, all I could think about was how similar it felt to standing in line at a theme park. Anticipation and anxiety hung in the air, along with the faint, sweet smell of sunscreen. My eight-year-old son, Bobby, and husband, Rob, kept fidgeting in the relentless August heat.
But we took it all in stride, because a big reward—that roller-coaster high of an Italian island vacation—was waiting on the other side. This was our second visit to Ischia, a destination that packs a lot of punch into its 46 square kilometers. A volcanic speck in the cobalt Tyrrhenian Sea, the isle is marked by healing waters and hot springs, vertiginous roads, and lush landscapes.
