Things to do in Amalfi

Amalfi gave its name to the whole coast. For two centuries its ships traded from Byzantium to North Africa under its own maritime code, the Tabula de Amalpha. A storm in 1343 wrecked the harbour, and most of that power went with it.

What the old republic left behind

The Duomo di Sant'Andrea tops a long stair. Its bronze doors were cast in Constantinople and shipped here in the eleventh century. Below it sits the town's only flat ground.

• The Paper Museum. A working mill turned museum, still making paper by hand from cotton rag the old way.
• The cloister. Moorish arches beside the cathedral, built as a burial ground for the town's elite.
• The lemon terraces. Steep groves above town growing the Sfusato Amalfitano, the fruit behind most limoncello on the coast.

A day here

Amalfi works as a walk more than an excursion. Cathedral, cloister, the lanes behind the piazza, then the small pebble beach for a swim. Boats, buses and the coast road all meet here, the coast's one real transport knot.

Ravello sits on the ridge above. A short bus ride gets you there. Its cathedral and the gardens of Villa Cimbrone draw a quieter, cooler crowd than the seafront below.

Practical

• Weather. Summer days average around 28C, the sea near 26C; winter stays mild, rarely below 10C, but rain picks up from November.
• Getting here. SITA buses run the coast road from Sorrento and Salerno; ferries are faster and skip the jams.
• The stairs. The Duomo's steps and the lanes behind it are all on foot, with no way around them.
• Money. Cafes on the piazza charge double for a table with the view; the alleys behind sit at normal prices.
• Paper. The museum shop sells the genuine article; souvenir stalls along the front mostly do not.