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Packing just the right clothing, shoes, and travel accessories for a Mediterranean getaway full of sunbathing, sightseeing, and limoncello sipping requires the forethought of an experienced, well-dressed traveler—after all, there’s no better time to pull out your best vacation outfits than on a trip to Italy. And who better to ask for Italy packing tips than the ultimate girl-about-town, Paige DeSorbo? I recently caught up with the reality star, podcast host, and founder of Daphne, a line of chic, ready-to-lounge clothing, to talk about how she packed for a two-week trip to Italy this summer. By now, she’s a pro—DeSorbo’s close-knit, Italian American family heads off to Capri every summer for a little R&R; this year, they added a three-day jaunt to Positano to the itinerary. I asked DeSorbo about her packing strategy, style inspo, and tried-and-true carry-on essentials for living la dolce vita. Below, DeSorbo’s cool-girl guide to packing for an Italian summer in style.
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Courtesy Grand Hotel Quisisana
Where she stayed
Every summer DeSorbo and her family stay at Grand Hotel Quisisana, a bright and beachy hotel with mesmerizing Mediterranean views. “If I could move in and work at the front desk, I would,” she says, describing the luxe hotel as the perfect place to stay.
“It’s so special that I take this trip with my family. It’s a detox—I have therapy sessions with my mom by the pool and it’s so rejuvenating. It’s the only trip where I’m sad to leave—usually I’m excited to go home, but I always get sad to leave Italy.” After her stay in Capri, DeSorbo checked into Villa Treville Positano, a quaint hotel surrounded by lush gardens and dreamy terraces.
Her tips for overpackers
“I got really good at packing for long trips on the Giggly Squad tour,” says DeSorbo. “I had to pack for 60 shows. I would die without packing cubes—you can truly pack so much more with them allowing you to compress all your things.” As for her go-to luggage, DeSorbo recommends matching suitcases from Away (a Traveler-editor favorite, too). “They fit a ton and look so sleek,” she says. “For this two-week trip, I checked one big suitcase and one medium size. I brought one empty carry-on that I filled with things I picked up during the trip.”
Her style inspiration for Capri
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I was following along on DeSorbo’s Italian vacation via Instagram and couldn’t get enough of her polished outfit photos. She says she gets a lot of her fashion inspo from Pinterest, but this time around she took notes from the latest season of The White Lotus. “The show was a big inspiration for me. Chloe wore a custom pink Jacquemus look and I knew I had to recreate it.” She recommends trying on outfits and accessorizing them ahead of a trip to help trim down your packing list and save yourself some time once you’re on vacation. “I planned out one bathing suit look, one daytime look, and one nighttime look per day I was there.”
To keep things simple, she recommends packing lots of matching sets or breathable dresses. During the day, DeSorbo threw on comfy pieces from her clothing line Daphne to wear for breakfast or over a bathing suit. “I try not to bring a lot of shoes, but I do not subscribe to the no-heels-in-Italy rule,” she says. “I go for kitten heels or low-block heels instead. On this trip, I wore a lot of Tony Bianco sandals.”
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