Campania

Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Naples, Vesuvius, Pompei

The Amalfi Coast lies on the south side of the Sorrento peninsula and is one of the most delightful seaside destinations in the Campania region of Italy. As well as enjoying the pleasures of the seaside and going on excursions to the tops of the cliffs, visitors can eat in fish restaurants and try Lacrima Christi, the local wine from the vineyards on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. After Sorrento, the main road goes to Positano, which looks out over the sea from the top of a cliff. Further along the coast, there is the charming town of Praiano. Amalfi itself is the largest and best known of the coastal towns. Ravello has the best view of the coast and further on, past Atrani, are the Roman ruins at Minori with its beautiful old art remains.

The cliffs of the Amalfi Coast inspire many intense emotions, casting a spell with silent grottoes glowing with unearthly blues and bewitching white cottages drowning in fragrant flowers. Talented Italian drivers village-hop along Amalfi Drive, teetering around precarious curves edged by sheer drops. Starting with Sorrento, lookout points along the 69 km (43 mi) drive offer natural and historical sights of uncommon beauty.

Positano's Palazzo Murat has a 200-year-old garden, and the Spiaggia Grande is a popular place for a dip in the Tyrrhenian. Beaches can also be found at Atrani, Minori, Maiori and Conca dei Marini. Amalfi, named after a nymph that stole the heart of Hercules, is home to the mythic Emerald Grotto, and Ravello's summer festival, the Festivale Musicale di Ravello, celebrates the long life of music. Scenic Cetara is an atmospheric fishing village, and ceramics are Vietri Sul Mare's specialty. Praiano was once a summer home for kings, and the ancient Furore, Scala and Tramonti are also populated with castles. The final stop, the larger city of Salerno, remains intimate and attractive.

Amalfi, named after a nymph that stole the heart of Hercules, is home to the mythic Emerald Grotto, and Ravello's summer festival, the Festivale Musicale di Ravello, celebrates the long life of music. Scenic Cetara is an atmospheric fishing village, and ceramics are Vietri Sul Mare's specialty. Praiano was once a summer home for kings, and the ancient Furore, Scala and Tramonti are also populated with castles. The final stop, the larger city of Salerno, remains intimate and attractive.
Amalfi is a health and seaside resort laid out at different levels at the top of a cliff on the Amalfi coast, at the end of the Mulini valley. It was founded by the Romans, was a trading centre in the sixth century, and in 839 AD, became the first Italian maritime republic. It waged war with Genoa and Pisa for centuries for mastery of the Tyrrhenian Sea and was at the peak of its splendour around 1000. Amalfi was sacked and destroyed by the Pisans in 1135 and this marked the beginning of its decline. It passed thereafter into the power of various feudal lordships and eventually became part of the kingdom of Naples whose fate it followed.
You can visit the Cathedral which was built in the eleventh century, rebuilt in the Arab-Norman style in the twelfth and further altered in the eighteenth.
The bell tower was built between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The thirteenth century “Paradise” cloisters, surrounded by an elegant portico with pointed, interwoven arches and supporting columns, was built by Archbishop Filippo Augustariccio as a sepulchre for illustrious people of the town. You can also visit the arsenal of the Republic which is a grandiose Gothic construction, the Cappuccini Hotel which was a thirteenth century convent with cloisters and a loggia, the Civic Museum containing the Tabula Amalphitana which is the oldest navigational manual in the world, and the map museum.

Positano is a fishing village, port for Capri, and health and seaside resort on the Amalfi coast. It has white houses with vaulted roofs and is laid out on terraces amongst gardens, palms and citrus groves on the slopes of Mount Sant’Angelo a Tre Pizzi and Mount Comune. It was founded by the people of Paestum, who lived through the Saracen invasion, and was later a rival of Amalfi. It has a beach with a small sandy area in front of a cliff.
You can visit the Church of Santa Maria Assunta which has a cupola covered with majolica and is divided into three parts internally. The campanile is thirteenth century. Events include the Positano Dancing Competition and a September Music programme.


Sorrento is a well known tourist and seaside resort on the north coast of the Sorrento peninsula, on a steep tufa terrace overlooking the Bay of Naples. Ruled by Syracuse, the Samnites and the Romans, it became a Byzantine possession and, in the ninth century, an independent comune. In 1133, it was conquered by the Normans and later became part of the kingdom of Naples, whose fate it followed. Nowadays its shore line is divided into the port area of Marina Piccola and the beach at Marina Grande where there are many bathing establishments.
You can visit the cathedral, which was built in the year 1000 and rebuilt in the fifteenth century, the fifteenth century arched loggia called the Sedile Dominova, the remains of a Roman arch and the monument to the poet Torquato Tasso who was born here in the sixteenth century.

Naples is the largest city of Campania, capital of the province and the region, Naples is the third most populated city in Italy (after Rome and Milan), with over a million inhabitants, and is the most important industrial centre and trading port for the South.
A point of embarkation for emigrants in the past, Naples now has a large traffic of merchandise (petroleum, carbon, cereals) and passengers. It is the largest Italian port, a noteworthy hub of railway and highways and a large international airport. In the vast urban area one can distinguish many different neighbourhoods: the old centre, characterised by buildings closely crowded together, is bordered on the west by the new administrative district and on the east by the business district, into which flows almost all the road and rail traffic. Other neighbourhoods, with narrow climbing streets, rise around the base of the San Martino and Capodimonte hills. These neighbourhoods have experienced intense development, typically of the simpler kind, in contrast to that of the residential neighbourhoods that stretch out comfortably along the Vomero and Posillipo hills.

The original nucleus of the city can be found on the little island of Megaride. Occupied today by Egg Castle (Castel dell’ Ovo), it was first a settlement of the Aegean Greeks, then the Rodi, followed by the Cumani, in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. The Cumani also occupied the Pizzofalcone heights and named the city Palaepolis (Old City). Around the fifth century B.C., Neapolis (New City) arose in the surrounding areas, exercising strong cultural influence based on its Greek roots. In the following century it was occupied by the Romans, surrounded by walls and characterized by blocks of streets formed in grids. Later it was occupied by the Byzantines, then the Goths, and then became capital of an autonomous dukedom. After a brief period of Longobard dominion, it fell under Norman control, until Ruggero II of Altavilla, King of Sicily, was able to add it to his kingdom in 1139.
With the Angevin conquest in 1266, Naples became the capital and experienced notable demographic and urban growth. New growth occurred with the arrival of Alfonso of Aragon and with the reign of his successors (fifteenth century). After Charles VIII of France, the Spanish took over in 1503. Naples rose to the dignity of being a capital again in 1734 under the Bourbons, who reigned there until September 1860 (except during the brief French parenthesis, 1806-1815), at which time it was annexed to Garibaldi’s Italy.
The bombardments of the Second World War, aggravated by the resistance of the German troops, caused death and destruction to the patrimony of population and of art. However, the Parthenopaean population gained victory on October 1, 1943, after four days of bitter fighting.
(Note: The mythical tomb of Parthenope, a siren, was supposedly at the site where Naples grew up. As a result, the city has become known as Parthenopaea.)The National Archaeology Museum of Naples, one of the most important in the world, was founded in the eighteenth century by Charles of Bourbon, who transferred here the Farnese collection that he had in inherited as well as works gathered from Herculaneum, Stabia, Cuma and Pompeii. These include rich collections of sculptures, paintings, mosaics, bronzes, vases and varied objects.

The most naturally Neapolitan dishes are vermicelli with clams, mussels, smaller shellfish, ziti (a type of pasta) with ragù (meat sauce), Italian style fritters, fritters of squid and mullet, steamed polyps, oven-baked kid (lamb), eggplant Parmesan, and buffalo mozzarella.
Without question, pizza is the symbol of Naples. Naples is known worldwide for this genuine and economical dish. However, in Naples the pizza is different and no one can equal the Parthenopeaen pizza-makers. Whether because of the delicious odour in the air, the oil, the water, or for the simplicity with which it is made, it is certain that in Naples "pizza" has a special flavour.

Naples is also famous for sweets that change with the seasons: struffoli (cookies with Strega liqueur, honey, and candied sprinkles), pastiere (cakes made with ricotta, coarse flour, candied fruits, and orange syrup), zeppole (cookies made from black cherry liqueur, fried or cooked in the oven, for St. Joseph’s Day), cassate (cakes made from ricotta cheese, almond paste, and pieces of chocolate), monachine (in English, "little monks"), sfogliate rich with cream and layered high, frolle (sweet crumbly pastry made from flour, egg, butter and sugar), babà (made with light flour), eggs, and yeast and bathed in rum punch), millefoglie (layers of sweet cream and thin pastry shell), mimose (Angel Food cake, known in Italian as pasta di spagna, with cream).
These delicious sweets are always accompanied by coffee or flavored liqueurs (rosolio, limoncello, nocillo - the latter walnut-flavored).Whether because of its colours or the luminosity of the landscape or its intriguing byways, Naples certainly will remain in the eyes and hearts of its visitors.

Shopping in Naples is a tourist experience worth discovering, alongside of traditional shopping. It draws visitors through the piazzas, streets and byways of the Parthenopeaen capital in search of something "real." The characteristic Neapolitan craftsman, who possesses an incomparable stock of tradition, has been able to conserve throughout the ages his secrets of hard work and human care, passing them down from father to son. Goldworkers, decorative metalworkers, typographers, stuccoers, jewelers, silvercrafters, ceramicists, stonecarvers, waxworkers, engravers, glovemakers, coral experts: all still have their workshops in the heart of Naples and are available to those looking for objects possessing a touch of personal creativity.