Between the ninth and eleventh centuries, a strip of cliffs with no land to farm became Italy's first great maritime power, with merchants in Constantinople, Alexandria and Jerusalem. Thirteen stops between the view of Positano, the cave of emerald water, the sea gate and the legend of the compass, the galley arsenal, the cathedral stairway, the bronze doors cast in Constantinople, the Cloister of Paradise, the crypt of the apostle Andrew, the code of the laws of the sea, the paper mills, the church where the dukes were invested, the Ravello villa that dazzled Wagner and the cape where Genoa won a battle in waters that had once been Amalfi's. Approximate audio duration: 25 minutes.
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Amalfi: la pequeña república que dominó el mar antes que Génova y Pisa
Entre los siglos IX y XI, una franja de acantilados sin tierra para cultivar se convirtió en la primera gran potencia marítima de Italia, con mercaderes en Constantinopla, Alejandría y Jerusalén. Trece paradas entre la vista de Positano, la gruta del agua esmeralda, la puerta del mar y la leyenda de la brújula, el arsenal de las galeras, la escalinata de la catedral, las puertas de bronce fundidas en Constantinopla, el claustro del Paraíso, la cripta del apóstol Andrés, el código de las leyes del mar, los molinos de papel, la iglesia donde se investía a los duques, la villa de Ravello que deslumbró a Wagner y el cabo donde Génova ganó una batalla en aguas que habían sido de Amalfi. Duración aproximada de audio: 25 minutos.
Tour stops
13 stops · ~25 min of audio · 22.9 km on foot (~5 h 45 min walking) · about 6 h 15 min in total
You are on the main beach of Positano, with the village climbing the mountain behind you. Coloured houses stacked one on top of another and, below, the majolica dome of the church of Santa Maria Assunta.
Look east along the coast. That line of cliffs fading into the haze is the Amalfi Coast. Between the ninth and twelfth centuries, nearly everything you can see was a small independent state: the Duchy of Amalfi.
It was a tiny state. A ribbon of coastline running roughly from here to Cetara, plus mountain villages such as Scala, Tramonti, Agerola and Ravello. It had no plains, no navigable ri…
2
The Cave of Emerald Water
You have come down from the road and are now inside a sea cave at Conca dei Marini. The water glows an intense, almost phosphorescent green. That is why it is called the Emerald Grotto.
The colour comes not from the water but from the light. Sunlight enters through an opening below the surface and passes through the sea before reaching the interior. The result is this glow that seems to rise from the bottom.
Look at the columns of rock: stalactites hanging from the roof and stalagmites rising from the floor. Some of them are underwater. That could only happen because the cave was once dry, a…
3
The Sea Gate and the Compass They Did Not Invent
You are in the square facing Amalfi's harbour. In the middle stands a bronze statue of a man holding a compass. This is Flavio Gioia, the supposed inventor of the compass.
Supposed, because Flavio Gioia probably never existed. The magnetic needle was already in use in China centuries earlier, and in Europe it is mentioned by the late twelfth century. No medieval document from Amalfi speaks of this man.
The legend was born from a line of verse. In the fifteenth century the humanist Antonio Beccadelli wrote in Latin that Amalfi was the first to give sailors the use of the magnet. Over time oth…
4
The Galley Arsenal
You are facing two long stone halls with pointed vaults, a few metres from the sea. This is the Arsenal of the Republic, one of the oldest surviving medieval shipyards in Europe.
Galleys were built and repaired here. Under these vaults, sheltered from rain and sun, carpenters and caulkers worked the timber brought down from the mountain forests.
The arsenal was originally larger and reached closer to the water. What you see is what the sea left standing. In November 1343 a terrible storm struck this coast and swallowed much of the harbour and the lower town. Petrarch, who was in Naples, desc…
5
The Stairway Between Two Worlds
You are in Piazza del Duomo, the heart of Amalfi. In front of you a steep stairway climbs to the cathedral of Sant'Andrea, with its facade of black and white stripes, interlaced arches and golden mosaics.
That facade looks medieval, but it dates from the nineteenth century. The original collapsed in 1861 and was rebuilt imitating the Arab-Norman style of the rest of the building. The mosaic at the top belongs to the same period.
Look to the left at the bell tower, crowned with interlacing arches and green and yellow tiles. That one really is medieval: it was built between the late twelfth an…
6
The Doors Cast in Constantinople
You have reached the cathedral atrium. In front of you is the central door: two great leaves of dark bronze, divided into panels, with figures of saints in the middle.
These doors were not made in Italy. They were cast in Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, around 1060, and came here by ship. They were paid for by an Amalfitan merchant, Pantaleone son of Mauro, from a family settled in Constantinople.
They were the first Byzantine bronze doors to reach southern Italy. And they made such an impression that Abbot Desiderius of Montecassino, after seeing them, ordered similar ones …
7
The Cloister of Paradise
You are in the Cloister of Paradise, to the left of the cathedral. A courtyard with palm trees, surrounded by slender columns supporting interlaced white arches. It is one of the most photographed corners of Amalfi.
It was not a garden for strolling. It was a cemetery. Archbishop Filippo Augustariccio had it built between 1266 and 1268 to bury members of the town's noble families.
Notice the arches: tall, pointed, crossing over one another. The design recalls the Arab architecture of Sicily and North Africa. Amalfi's merchants traded with those shores and knew that language well.
Look along…
8
The Apostle Who Came from a Crusade
You have gone down into the crypt. Ceilings covered in frescoes, coloured marbles and, in the middle, the altar with the bronze statue of Saint Andrew. Beneath it lie the relics of the apostle, brother of Saint Peter.
How did the body of an apostle end up in Amalfi? Through the Fourth Crusade. In 1204 the crusaders sacked Constantinople, and the city's relics were scattered across Europe.
A cardinal born in Amalfi, Pietro Capuano, had accompanied the crusade as papal legate. He obtained the remains of Saint Andrew and sent them to his home town. They arrived in May 1208.
For Amalfi it was a…
9
The Laws of the Sea
You are at Amalfi's town hall. Inside is a small civic museum, and in it a modest manuscript with yellowed pages. This is the Tabula de Amalpha, the Amalfi Table.
It is a collection of rules of maritime law. It deals with very concrete matters: how profits are shared between the shipowner, the merchants and the sailors. What happens if cargo has to be thrown overboard in a storm. What is owed to a sailor who falls ill.
The text has sixty-six chapters. The oldest are in Latin, the rest in vernacular Italian. That suggests it was built up in layers, probably between the twelfth and fourteenth …
10
The Valley of the Paper Mills
You have walked up the main street, which runs over the old bed of the stream, and entered the Valley of the Mills. The sound of water follows you. You are in front of the Paper Museum, in an old stone paper mill.
For centuries this valley was Amalfi's industrial district. The Canneto stream comes down from the mountain with water all year round. That water turned wheels, and the wheels drove wooden hammers.
The hammers pounded rags of linen, cotton and hemp until they became pulp. With that pulp, on a mesh frame, the sheets were formed one by one. That is how carta bambagina, the paper of A…
11
The Church Where the Dukes Were Invested
You are in the square of Atrani, one of the smallest municipalities in Italy. In front of you a stairway climbs to the church of San Salvatore de' Birecto.
Atrani and Amalfi are joined at the hip, separated only by a headland. In the days of the republic, Atrani was home to many noble families. And it had a key ceremonial role.
In this church, founded in the tenth century, the dukes of Amalfi were invested. The name explains it: birecto comes from the biretta, the cap placed on the new duke's head as a symbol of his power.
Amalfi had freed itself in 839 from the rule of the Lombard princes …
12
Ravello, the Merchants and Wagner's Garden
You are in Ravello, some 350 metres above the sea, in the gardens of Villa Rufolo. Below, the whole Gulf of Salerno opens out. Terraces of flowers fall away towards the void.
Ravello was part of the Duchy of Amalfi. Up here, far from the harbour and safer from attacks by sea, very wealthy merchant families settled. The Rufolo were one of them.
They built this villa in the thirteenth century. Notice the entrance tower and the small courtyard with interlaced arches: once again the mark of the Arab world that the merchants of this coast knew first hand.
The Rufolo were so well known that Bocca…
13
Bear Cape and the End of an Era
You are at Capo d'Orso, between Maiori and Erchie. Look at the rock of the headland: with a little imagination it has the shape of a crouching bear, which is where the name comes from. Below, a small lighthouse marks the cape.
This is almost the eastern edge of the old duchy. A little further on is Cetara, and after that the coast of Salerno begins. From end to end, the whole state of Amalfi fitted into little more than thirty kilometres of cliffs.
These waters saw a famous naval battle. On 28 April 1528, during the war between France and the Emperor Charles V, a Genoese fleet under Filippin…
How long does the "Amalfi: the Tiny Republic That Ruled the Sea Before Genoa and Pisa" audio tour take?
It has about 25 minutes of audio across 13 stops and a 22.9 km walking route (~5 h 45 min on foot). Plan roughly 6 h 15 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "A Coast with No Land to Farm" (coordinates 40.6283, 14.4861). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Amalfi and pick "Amalfi: the Tiny Republic That Ruled the Sea Before Genoa and Pisa". No account required to start.
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