The Costiera Amalfitana turns vertical living into an art form. Hotels burrow into the rock and send guests down to the beach by elevator; while in Positano, the sheer hillside is terraced not with vines but with white-and-pastel houses, each one seemingly rooted in its neighbor’s roof. The rugged setting is softened by splashes of greenery: Lemon trees stride up the hillside in a series of giant steps, and every handkerchief-sized plot of flat land has been turned into a garden, an orchard, or a vegetable patch. A single, narrow road winds precariously along the 25 miles of rocky coastline, with the occasional hairpin variant branching off to traverse the saw-toothed ridge of the Monti Lattari, which separates the coast from Sorrento and the Bay of Naples to the north. Amalfi town is the area’s big cultural draw, but the breathtaking coastline itself is the real reason for coming here.
Amalfi
Amalfi, the town that gives the coastline its name, lies about halfway between Sorrento and Salerno. Its name is derived from that of the nymph, Amalfi, loved by Hercules—legend has it that he buried her in the world’s most beautiful spot after she died. Though it’s entirely given up to tourism today, this was once a proud maritime republic, founded in the ninth century, which rivaled Genoa, Pisa, and Venice in stature and power. The bustling, café-lined port is served by hydrofoils to and from Salerno, Positano, and Capri, while the bus terminus on the quay offers road connections to Salerno, Ravello, Positano, and Sorrento. Buses to the latter two towns also pass by the upper entrance to the Grotta dello Smeraldo, a famous cave with 33-foot deep, crystal-clear waters that shimmer with emerald-green light thanks to an underground crevice. From the harbor area, pass under the Porta Marinara gate into Piazza del Duomo, pictured, Amalfi’s open-air living room, which is dominated by the magnificent Duomo di Sant’Andrea. It’s well worth scaling the steps to see the cathedral’s splendid bronze door, cast in Constantinople in the 11th century, and its 13th-century Romanesque-Arabian cloisters, the aptly named Chiostro del Paradiso. You should also try to get away from the touristy main street into the narrow pedestrian streets above, which offer a glimpse of the town’s unusual, Moorish-influenced vernacular architecture, with its whitewashed houses linked by arches and vaults—some of them so long that they turn certain lanes into tunnels.
Amalfi Drive
The corniche road, Amalfi Drive, provides one of the world’s hairiest and most scenic motoring experiences—veering vertiginously around the jagged edge of the Lattari Mountains, twisting and tunneling and hairpin-bending, providing vista after stunning vista of gorges, bridges, cliffs plunging vertically into the glassy Tyrrhenian Sea, and sudden improbable villages tucked picturesquely into the landscape. Of course, the designated driver will miss the scenery, being too busy concentrating on the white knuckles: John Steinbeck, who used to come here in the 1950s, claimed the Amalfi Drive was “carefully designed to be a little narrower than two cars side by side.” From the east, the route begins in Salerno, a working port city with a Norman Duomo. Beyond the town of Vietri sul Mare, famous for its colorful ceramicware, the road skirts the imposing bulk of Monte dell’Avvocata, passing Cetara, a salty fishing town that represents the Amalfi Coast at its least touristy. After the low-key resorts of Maiori and Minori comes the historic town of Amalfi, the coast’s unofficial capital. Worthwhile stops between Amalfi and Positano include the Vallone di Furore, pictured, a rare Mediterranean fjord, whose steep rock walls shelter an enclave of fishermen’s houses and their tiny harbor; and Praiano, a pretty, low-key alternative to the glitz of Positano. West of Positano, the road enters its most spectacular stretch: The nine-mile Nastro Azzurro, which clings to the side of the cliffs as it climbs to Sant’Agata sui Due Golfi: From there, it’s a steep descent down into Sorrento on the other side of the peninsula.
Positano
Clinging improbably to the near-vertical coast about halfway between Amalfi and Sorrento, Positano is the best-known resort of the Costiera Amalfitana. Achingly picturesque, with its tumble of pastel-hued houses ranged in stepped ranks like spectators in an amphitheater, the town specializes in promenaders’ activities—shopping, eating, sipping, boat-hopping, and, especially, people-watching. The gray shingle beach is fine for a quick dip, but most serious sun-worshippers take one of the regular boats to and from a series of smaller coves along the coast. If you’re driving, be warned that the whole town has a painfully slow one-way system that can take the best part of an hour to negotiate: Best advice, if you don’t have the benefit of a hotel parking lot, is to leave the car at the first space you find (not an easy task in high season) and walk—or hop on one of the regular buses.
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