Find Amalfi if you're on the Amalfi Coast
Just below the lofty heights of Ravello lies an even older town, Amalfi. Amalfi dates its history to the year 600 and it was the Amalfi Republic from around the years 800 to 1200 that gives this entire coastline its name. Prior to the rise of Venice, Amalfi was the European trading port. Amalfi today boasts a population of around 5,000 people, but in its heyday the population of Amalfi numbered closer to 65,000. I cannot imagine 65,000 people jammed into this labryinth of a town, but jammed they were.
The Via del Duomo, Amalfi
Amalfi has one main, wide street, the Via del Duomo. The Cathedral of St. Andrew, the Campanile and the Duomo of Amalfi sit right next to one another and the small piazza in front of those buildings is the extent of Amalfi that most visitors see. That's a real shame because like a lot of places, authentic Amalfi can't be found along its main drag. The Via del Duomo and the Piazza Duomo are packed to the gills with the same bad restaurants and limoncello stands that crowd so many of the towns in this part of the world. So if you ever find yourself in Amalfi, don't stop in the Piazza Duomo, keep walking.
Within a block of the Piazza, Amalfi reveals itself as a town nearly devoid of streets. A confusing and delightful rabbit's warren of walkways and staircases connects the buildings as the town itself works its way up the side of Mount Cerrito. Amalfi has the street plan it does because in the days of Saracen and Norman invasions, having an impossible to navigate street plan was a defensive measure. Gangs of marauders would get caught up in the dead end passageways and switchbacks and could be slaughtered more readily. It's easy to imagine how it must have been a thousand years ago when you find yourself back in the neighborhoods of Amalfi.
Fascinating though the town is, what really affected me was this. On the way to Amalfi from Positano, you can look out over the wide expanse of the Mediterranean and see three islands just offshore known locally as The Sirens. I was an English Major back in my day and my literary geekdom knows no bounds. Until I saw the Sirens for the first time that morning it had never occurred to me that Homer's tale of Odysseus in the Odyssey could have been inspired by real events and real places. The ancient Greek mariners were all over this coast a thousand years before Rome. In all likelihood, the rocks and currents surrounding these small islands were pretty treacherous. The Greek sailors knew to avoid them and a myth grew out of that avoidance. Eventually, a blind poet named Homer solidified that myth when he composed the Odyssey. Wow. It's pretty wild to rub shoulders with three thousand years of western literary history like that.
So fresh from my literary moment on the bus ride south, I got off the bus in Amalfi. If you look due south from the marina in Amalfi your eyes can't help but to land on the Hotel Luna as it creeps up the cliff-side. As I was standing there looking at the hotel I remembered something I'd read a week before. Namely, that Henrik Ibsen had holed himself up in the Hotel Luna to write A Doll's House in 1879. Now, when Ibsen was sitting in his hotel room at the Luna he would have been able to see the Sirens on a clear day. Maybe it's just me, but I had a breakdown of the literary sort on the spot. I still get a shiver when I think about it.
These small towns along that rocky coast hold the very roots roots of our culture. Finding those roots and connection points is especially important for Americans. We're a people without a context, stumbling blindly without a real sense why we do what we do. That's both our strength and our weakness by the way. Places like Amalfi provide an anchor for that rootlessness and an opportunity to think about how we're the same instead of dwelling on how we're different. Finding those connections is why this American travels.
My friend JD walking up an Amalfi street.
The Cathedral of St. Andrew, Amalfi.
Lunch time in Amalfi. This was the best and freshest calamari I've ever eaten. The chef and her husband came out and sat with us for lunch.
The Hotel Luna rises above the harbor and marina in Amalfi.
The Sirens as seen from the road just north of Amalfi.
And remember, come see me in my usual spot on the 'net, Kitchen and Residential Design.
Gosh that is all so true. With all of those villages you just need to keep walking until you no longer are surrounded by tourists. I loved how you gave context to the seemingly confusing "streets" and alleys. Much like Venice, Santorini and other amazing places, they were built in a somewhat labyrinth type fashion for protection.
Jim and I LOVE to get lost in new cities. It is one of our greatest joys while traveling. It's the true citizens of the place that will make you completely readjust your view of the world.
What an awesome journey, Paul! And than calamari. OH! Don't you love the simplicity of food there? Pure. Fresh. Perfect.
Such a tour!
Posted by: franki durbin | May 08, 2009 at 03:47 PM
I recently returned from Milan for the furniture show and I also visited some gorgeous villages. Such unparalleled beauty!
Thanks for sharing your photos
Posted by: Dee Dee Hannah | May 13, 2009 at 11:26 AM
You are most welcome Dee Dee. I have never been to the big design shows in Milan. Worth it? Wait. You don't have to answer that. I already know the answer!
Posted by: Paul Anater | May 13, 2009 at 12:26 PM