One of the most scenic and cliff-hanging coastal landscapes in Europe - Costiera Amalfitana 830; Mediterranean diet 00884
What and Why
The Amalfi Coast (Italian: Costiera Amalfitana) is the scenic 50-km stretch of coastline on the northern coast of the Gulf of Salerno (Golfo di Salerno), which clearly possesses unrivalled sceneries and dramatic landscapes. The winding drive along the coast itself is both scenic and heart-throbbing as it is very narrow and literally cliff-hanging. Moreover the houses and towns along the coast seem to defy gravity by perching on cliff faces that no sane person would ever want to stand, let alone live there. The combined effect, however, is an absolutely stunning landscape. Aside from its natural beauty, it is also the historic evolution of the multiple townships that makes the coastline build its own unique culture, and hence gets itself inscribed as a UNESCO WHS.
The Amalfi coastline stretches across a large number of cities and municipalities: all the way from East to West: Salerno, Vietri sul Mare, Cetara, Maiori, Tramonti, Minori, Ravello, Scala, Atrani, Amalfi, Conca dei Marini, Furore, Praiano, Positano and Sorrento. Amongst these the highlights would be Vietri sul Mare, Maiori, Ravello, Amalfi and Positano. You can literally spend a month there appreciating the landscapes without getting tired, but you will definitely get broke.
Toponymy
The toponym has uncertain Latin origins from 'Melfi', a Roman city whose refugees landed on the Amalfi coast and founded the city.
See
We drove from the western tip and return to the eastern end where we stayed.
Sorrento
The first stop is Piazza Tasso, Sorrento's main piazza, which is connected to Piazza Lauro by Corso Italia. Sorrento is a wonderful town that offers a great mix of flair, history and nature, and offers a great European city walk.
However this town is also easily one of the most crowded, which is not reflected in this photograph as it was drizzling when we were there.
We also decided to start with Sorrento first as it is a small town of lemon fame. Sorrentine lemons, lemonade and its wine limoncello are the stuffs to bring home from the Amalfi coast. The lemons are not only very succulent but exceptionally big, easily the size of a big fist, as below. There are plenty of hawkers and street-stores around selling all these fresh produces.
Furore
Our next stop is Furore, meaning fury in Italian, is nothing furious about it but in the opposite has a very leisurely vacation setting. The name arises because of the waves that hits the beaches. The tiny village is famous for its fjord and the little beach within.
Furore is also renowned for its murals, it is just all over the place in literally every buildings we pass by. The mural below shows the exact spot of the above fjord-beach.
Positano
I probably rank Positano as the gem along the coastline, just above Amalfi, as it is the steep hill-side town forming a very pleasant shopping spree for my female friends during the trip. The stretch is also visibly the most picturesque in sceneries and offers large number of photospots of the Amalfi coastline.
All of the shops are along the Viale Pasitea and we were dropped off from the top, it was a very breezy downhill walk. The centre of the walk is around Piazza dei Mulini where one will find the bus stop and the main church of the town.
Amalfi
We then proceeded to Amalfi, which is the other jewel of the crown of the namesake coastline.
The Amalfi shore.
The main piazza is located along Via Lorenzo d'Amalfi where another hybrid church, the Amalfi Cathedral (Cattedrale di Sant'Andrea Apostolo) is located, which naturally worships its saint Saint Andrew (Greek: Ἀνδρέας, Andreas).
Amalfi used to be its own republic, called Duchy of Amalfi (Latin: Ducatus Amalphitanus) until the 11th century CE and was quite a maritime power. You can easily figure out the Islamic tracery through the cloister features as the Amalfi coast used to be part of the Moorish empire. In fact the architecture infuses Arab-Norman Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and a more recent Norman-Arab-Byzantine facade.
Atrani
Atrani is another picturesque fishing town next to Amalfi and one will definitely be absorbed by its beautiful cliffside as we drive through Amalfi. The town is along the valley of the river Dragone, named for a legend saying there once was a terrible dragon that would breathe fire and would hide himself there.
While the town is now considered a left-behind small brother of Amalfi, the standout building is the tiny Church of San Salvatore de' Birecto (Chiesa di San Salvatore de Birecto), built in the 10th century CE.
The town is officially the smallest town in Italy (Italia), with an area of 0.12 km2 and a population of just above 800.
Ravello
Ravello is another touristy parts of the Amalfi coastline, famous for its ornate gardens and churches. The most visited is easily Villa Cimbrone, the historic building dating from at the 11th century CE. The scenic belvedere, the the Terrace of Infinity (Terrazzo dell'lnfinito), has been used in many film sets, for instance Wonder Woman.
Villa Rufolo is a building within the historic centre of Ravello. The famous opera composer Richard Wagner visited the villa in 1880 CE and was so impressed that he composed the second act of Parsifal. In commemoration, every year Villa Rufolo hosts a Wagnerian concert.
Minori
Minori has a special place in history as it was the favoured vacation spots from Roman emperors, dating back to the 1st century CE. This area earns its nickname Eden of the Amalfi Coast (Eden della Costiera Amalfitana) due to its pleasant Mediterranean climate.
Its name means small, together with Maiori, refers to the section with the river La Rheggina flowing through. The most famous site is Basilica di Santa Trofimena, and is named after Saint Trofimena (Santa Trofimena). The key legend says she was martyred while still a young girl by her own father because she wanted to be baptised and embrace Christianity, her remains were stuffed into an urn, and the urn was washed up to the shores of Minori.
Vietri sul Mare
Vietri sul Mare is a town famous for its multi-coloured porcelain and ceramics, a tradition since the 15th century CE. There are plenty of pottery shops in the town, but the most prominent factory has to be Ceramica Artistica Solimene Vincenzo, a huge ceramic factory with a distinctive facade.
Buy and Do
Limoncello
What else but lemons and limoncello? Just ubiquitious.
Ceramics (Ceramica)
Other than the sorrentine lemons and limoncello, which apparently is the main income of the towns, the other important souvenir to buy is ceramics or procelain, which is concentrated in Ravello and Vietri sul Mare, although you will be indulged with ceramic products everywhere along the coast. The best concentration of shoppes is in Positano and Amalfi.
Eat and Drink
Lemon (Limone)
The Amalfitana dishes feature lemons and abundance of seafood and really this is the unmissable item along the coastline.
Mediterranean cuisine (Cucina mediterranea)
We had a simple but very good lunch at Saraceno d'Oro which serves excellent pasta and prosciutto. At night we had a posh fine-dining session at the Sensi which is another Michelin-grade restaurant of Mediterranean cuisine (cucina mediterranea). Impeccable food and service.
The Mediterranean diet is inspired by the eating habits of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Incredibly with such a long tradition, this is only recently formulated properly in the 1960s CE, including cuisines from Greece, Italy, Spain, Balkan states and Morocco. The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, fruits, and vegetables, fish and seafood, moderate consumption of dairy products like cheese and yogurt, moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of non-fish meat. While ingredients and cooking vary across different countries, Mediterranean diet can be roughly be represented by the Mediterranean diet pyramid, summarising the approximate food composition.
There are evidences that the Mediterranean diet lowers the risk of cardio-vascular diseases and diabetes, and is officially classed as a healthy diet by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This diet also incorporates various practices, rituals and preparation of the food, as well as the general sharing and consumption of the food, and the habit of eating together. The diet is now a UNESCO ICH.
Stay
With a car, we do not need to dig deep into our wallet and stayed a bit far from central Amalfi. We stayed in Hotel San Francesco at Maiori which from the outside looks a bit basic and shabby, but I have to say the service from the hotel is absolutely top-notch. Highly recommended and high value for money!
Getting There and Around
The area can be accessed by public buses and the closest big city is probably Naples (Napoli), but it is a great travesty to the scenic drive and landscape if you do not drive along the coastline to enjoy the scene. Having said that each municipality charges its own ZTL (Zona a traffico limitato) fare and Amalfi is the costliest at EUR 20€ for two hours of entry! Fortunately our driver managed to find some behind-the-hill trails to avoid the ZTL. Another way to traverse the coastline is to take the water-taxi between the towns, but they are equally expensive.
If budget allows, we recommend at least a week for a detailed enjoyable tour of the beautiful coastline.
UNESCO Inscriptions
The Amalfi coast is an area of great physical beauty and natural diversity. It has been intensively settled by human communities since the early Middle Ages. There are a number of towns such as Amalfi and Ravello with architectural and artistic works of great significance. The rural areas show the versatility of the inhabitants in adapting their use of the land to the diverse nature of the terrain, which ranges from terraced vineyards and orchards on the lower slopes to wide upland pastures.
The Mediterranean diet involves a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking, and particularly the sharing and consumption of food. Eating together is the foundation of the cultural identity and continuity of communities throughout the Mediterranean basin. It is a moment of social exchange and communication, an affirmation and renewal of family, group or community identity. The Mediterranean diet emphasizes values of hospitality, neighbourliness, intercultural dialogue and creativity, and a way of life guided by respect for diversity. It plays a vital role in cultural spaces, festivals and celebrations, bringing together people of all ages, conditions and social classes. It includes the craftsmanship and production of traditional receptacles for the transport, preservation and consumption of food, including ceramic plates and glasses. Women play an important role in transmitting knowledge of the Mediterranean diet: they safeguard its techniques, respect seasonal rhythms and festive events, and transmit the values of the element to new generations. Markets also play a key role as spaces for cultivating and transmitting the Mediterranean diet during the daily practice of exchange, agreement and mutual respect.
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