Positano

Positano is a village that falls down a mountain into the sea. On the steepest stretch of the Amalfi Coast, where the mountains of the Sorrento peninsula drop almost straight into the sea, its houses are stacked one above another in pinks, ochres and whites, joined by stairways rather than streets, until they reach a small beach. Seen from the water or from the coast road above, the whole place reads as a single composition, and it is that vertical, theatrical arrangement, more than any single monument, that makes it one of the most photographed villages in Europe.

Its history is longer than its fame. Wealthy Romans built seaside villas here from around the first century BC. In the Middle Ages Positano served as a port of the maritime Republic of Amalfi, and in the 16th and 17th centuries it prospered as a trading harbour, which paid for many of the grander houses still standing. Then came decline: by the mid-19th century more than half the population had emigrated, mostly to America, and into the early 20th century it was a poor fishing village. Its revival came through artists and writers; John Steinbeck's 1953 essay "Positano Bites Deep" in Harper's Bazaar called it a dream place that becomes real only once you have left.

The focal point at the bottom of the town is the church of Santa Maria Assunta, whose dome of glazed majolica tiles gleams above the beach. Inside is a 13th-century Byzantine icon of a Black Madonna. Local tradition holds that pirates carried it off from the East and, caught in a storm off this coast, heard a voice crying "Posa, posa!", "put it down", so they brought the icon ashore. Offshore lie the small Li Galli islands, linked in legend to the Sirens.

Getting there

Positano lies on the SS163 Amalfi coast road; the town of Gragnano is about 7.5 km away in a straight line over the mountains, but most visitors arrive from Sorrento or Amalfi. SITA buses connect Positano with both. Ferries run to Positano from Salerno, Amalfi, Sorrento and Naples. The nearest airport is Naples International Airport (NAP), about 33 km away in a straight line.