Hello,

Can anyone help with a question about the church bells in Praiano? We are planning our vacation for October and we are looking at renting Casa Aloe in Praiano. I am a very sensitive sleeper and am very afraid of church bells ringing through the night and very early in the morning. Would you at all happen to know if this Casa is near a church? If it is how far? And do you think we will be able to hear the Church bells from the terrace and the bedroom? Do you happen to know how often the church bells go off? If this is too close to a church can you kindly recommend something farther away to stay at?

Thanks for your help. Grazie, Laura

Are you renting from summerinitaly.com ?
If so, they you tell you.
We spent a week in Praiano and had no problem.

Complain to the local chamber of commerce. Americans should not be inconvenienced by the religious beliefs of the inhabitants of tourist centers.

Can you use ear plugs? I never travel without them, but I must say that I love the sound of church bells, including during early morning.

Mrs F is a "sensitive sleeper". We live 50 yards from a church tower whose bells go off every 15 min, 24 hours a day. We always sleep with the windows open, and our bedroom is at approximately the same height as the church clock.

We frequently travel to foreign villages,similarly organised. This all being in Europe, we'd never dream of closing the windows there either.

She's just once in her life been disturbed by church bells: in a fairly remote part of Spain, with a bedroom just 5 yards from the church tower, when she'd forgotten her earplugs and couldn't buy any locally.

We've never yet met a peal of church bells able to outdo my snoring as a sleep interrupter. Two or three glasses of red wine just before bedtime constitute the perfect test for industrial strength earplugs.

Not certain how big an event it is, but Praiano seems to have celebrations for their patron saint, Luke the Evangelist, on and around the 18th - which could well involve some extra bonging and banging!

Here at least such things start pretty early - perhaps 6ish - with fire crackers and rockets, and bells... although I'm rarely out and about for the very first ones:

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/136718770

Only a note on this page:
http://www.comune.praiano.sa.it/italiano/Default.htm

... but the Comune website also offers a map, from which you can perhaps tell how far away you'd be from St Luke's - marked with a rather vague "E"...
http://www.comune.praiano.sa.it/mappa_interattiva.htm

They've already had a bash in his honour, back in July, so this second one - on the more usual saint's day - might not disturb you very much?

Peter

Fra Diavolo - please tell me you're kidding?

Hi Peter,

Thank you so much for the most helpful link to a map in Praiano. I can see from the map that the Casa Aloe is right beside St. Luke church. I heard back from the owner and yes indeed the bells do sound and he advised that we will hear them. We are now looking at other properties with the help of SummerinItaly, a little further out of town. Earplugs won't work for me I'm afraid. The idea of not sleeping well on my holiday doesn't bode well for me.

Thank you all for your help and if you know of any accommodations in Praiano that fit the bill of being away from church bells I'd appreciate any advice or recommendations.

Grazie! Ciao, Laura

Shame that it was quite so close, but better to find out now - rather than in the middle of your first night there!

Good luck with the search,
Peter