Positano
POSITANO
Tucked into the steep hillsides rolling down from the highest peaks of the Lattari mountain range, Positano holds a unique position on the Amalfi coast as well as being a glamorous playground for wealthy Italians. This enchanting vertical town of multi-colored villas is favored by artists and writers in search of inspiration.
The towns origins date back to Roman times when the local mill provided flour for the bread of Tiberius' table on Capri. Between the 9th and 11th centuries, Positano shared in the prosperity of Amalfi's maritime superiority and in the 16th and 17th centuries still maintained trading links with the Middle and Far East. It was during this time that the baroque villas, visible today in the guise of hotels, were built on terraces above the sea.
Positano was still principally a fishing port when, at the turn of the 20th century, it was discovered by scores of painters who reveled in the changing colors of the sky, sea and mountain. Over the course of the next sixty years it was to be visited by artists as Caprile, Picasso, Warhol, Escher and Klee. Positano's ranking grew due to film directors and movie stars whose presence gave birth to Positano's reputation as ‘the Beverly Hills of the Amalfi Coast'. Among these giants of the Italian screen were Vittorio De Sica, Franco Zeffirelli, Vittorio Gassman and Ornella Muti, thanks to the hospitality offered in Zeffirelli's ‘Tre Ville', stars such as Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, Lawrence Olivier, Liza Minnelli and Anthony Quinn also used the area as a summer retreat.
It was John Steinbeck who writing about Positano in the 1950s stated that: ‘Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone'.
Famous also for ‘La Moda Positano” today boasts a tourist popularity which (whilst being the backbone of the local economy) does not dispel its picturesque charm.
The one way road running through Positano leads off the SSl63 coastal road from Sorrento at the Chiesa Nuova (New Church), spiralling down to the Piazza dei Mulini (where the taxi drop off point can be found) before winding its way upwards to the Torre Sponda (SITA bus stop). A steep pathway links the town's two beaches, Spiagga Grande and Fornillo. The former is the hub of Positano after hours, with fine restaurants and boutiques which lead up via pedestrian walkways to the Piazza dei Mulini.
The tiled dome of the Church of S. Maria Assunta stands out as a highly visible landmark among the villas.
Boat services depart from the jetty to the right of Spiagga Grande, heading west to Capri or east to Amalfi and Salerno. Check for times at the ticket offices on the Quay.
LI GALLI ISLANDS
These three little islands are called "Li Galli" because from Positano they seem to form the shape of a cock's crest. In ancient times they were called "Sirenuse" according to the legend which says that the sirens: Leucosia, Parthenope and Lisia, while wandering across the seas came to these islands. The Oracle predicted they could live there until a human being should flee from their deceiving enchantments. This happened when Ulysses resisted their call tying himself to the mast of his ship after having made his men plug their ears with wax. The desperate sirens threw themselves into the sea which washed them up on the shore in three different places. Naples arose from where Parthenope landed, Ischia from Lisia and Licosa point from Leucosia. During the Middle Ages Amalfi's prisons were on these islands.
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Tucked into the steep hillsides rolling down from the highest peaks of the Lattari mountain range, Positano holds a unique position on the Amalfi coast as well as being a glamorous playground for wealthy Italians. This enchanting vertical town of multi-colored villas is favored by artists and writers in search of inspiration.
The towns origins date back to Roman times when the local mill provided flour for the bread of Tiberius' table on Capri. Between the 9th and 11th centuries, Positano shared in the prosperity of Amalfi's maritime superiority and in the 16th and 17th centuries still maintained trading links with the Middle and Far East. It was during this time that the baroque villas, visible today in the guise of hotels, were built on terraces above the sea.
Positano was still principally a fishing port when, at the turn of the 20th century, it was discovered by scores of painters who reveled in the changing colors of the sky, sea and mountain. Over the course of the next sixty years it was to be visited by artists as Caprile, Picasso, Warhol, Escher and Klee. Positano's ranking grew due to film directors and movie stars whose presence gave birth to Positano's reputation as ‘the Beverly Hills of the Amalfi Coast'. Among these giants of the Italian screen were Vittorio De Sica, Franco Zeffirelli, Vittorio Gassman and Ornella Muti, thanks to the hospitality offered in Zeffirelli's ‘Tre Ville', stars such as Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, Lawrence Olivier, Liza Minnelli and Anthony Quinn also used the area as a summer retreat.
It was John Steinbeck who writing about Positano in the 1950s stated that: ‘Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone'.
Famous also for ‘La Moda Positano” today boasts a tourist popularity which (whilst being the backbone of the local economy) does not dispel its picturesque charm.
The one way road running through Positano leads off the SSl63 coastal road from Sorrento at the Chiesa Nuova (New Church), spiralling down to the Piazza dei Mulini (where the taxi drop off point can be found) before winding its way upwards to the Torre Sponda (SITA bus stop). A steep pathway links the town's two beaches, Spiagga Grande and Fornillo. The former is the hub of Positano after hours, with fine restaurants and boutiques which lead up via pedestrian walkways to the Piazza dei Mulini.
The tiled dome of the Church of S. Maria Assunta stands out as a highly visible landmark among the villas.
Boat services depart from the jetty to the right of Spiagga Grande, heading west to Capri or east to Amalfi and Salerno. Check for times at the ticket offices on the Quay.
LI GALLI ISLANDS
These three little islands are called "Li Galli" because from Positano they seem to form the shape of a cock's crest. In ancient times they were called "Sirenuse" according to the legend which says that the sirens: Leucosia, Parthenope and Lisia, while wandering across the seas came to these islands. The Oracle predicted they could live there until a human being should flee from their deceiving enchantments. This happened when Ulysses resisted their call tying himself to the mast of his ship after having made his men plug their ears with wax. The desperate sirens threw themselves into the sea which washed them up on the shore in three different places. Naples arose from where Parthenope landed, Ischia from Lisia and Licosa point from Leucosia. During the Middle Ages Amalfi's prisons were on these islands.
See all
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