What cultural etiquette should I know for Sorrento?

Sorrento keeps hours that catch visitors out. Shops along Via San Cesareo tend to pull their shutters down around 1:30pm and reopen near 5pm, and most kitchens around Piazza Tasso won't seat you for dinner much before 7:30pm. Eating at 6pm isn't rude, but you'll likely sit alone with a laminated tourist menu. On most summer and early autumn evenings Corso Italia fills with the passeggiata, and the whole town walks it: grandparents in pressed linen, teenagers in clouds of cologne, the clack of good shoes on the paving. These two hours are the best time to read local manners. Sorrentini dress up for the walk, even in late October, so a shirtless man fresh off the Marina Grande ladder, still smelling of salt and sunscreen, stands out on the Corso like a fire alarm.

Table manners matter more than church rules here, because you'll eat out twice a day. After lunch, order un caffè: it comes as a hot, bitter thimbleful that locals drink standing at the bar for around €1.20, and in the busier bars near Piazza Tasso you might pay at the cassa first and hand the receipt to the barista. Ask for il conto when you want the bill. Nobody in Campania brings it unprompted, because hurrying a table along reads as rude. Order gnocchi alla sorrentina at least once: it comes baked in a terracotta dish, with tomato that tastes sweet from the heat and fior di latte that stretches when you lift your fork. Many places pour you an ice-cold limoncello after dinner, often free. That's hospitality, so accept it, even if you only sip.

Religion in Sorrento happens in the street, and Holy Week is when it matters most to visitors. Before dawn on Good Friday, confraternities in white hoods walk the lanes of the historic centre with brass bands, incense and a choir singing the Miserere; marchers in black hoods follow that evening. Watch from the pavement in silence, turn off your flash, and wait for the line to pass before you cross. The patron saint, Sant'Antonino, has his feast on 14 February: the basilica on Piazza Sant'Antonino fills that day, and stalls outside sell sugared almonds.

Transit has its own manners on the Circumvesuviana from Naples. Say permesso as you work your way toward the door, keep your backpack on your front through the crowded carriages near Pompei Scavi where pickpockets work, and give your seat to anyone who looks over 70. Sorrento is the last stop on the line, so there's no need to shove when the doors open.