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Amalfi Coast Amalfi Ravello Praiano Capri Ischia Pompei Napoli |
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| Positano Italy Positano Photo Gallery |
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The best way to really enjoy the Amalfi Coast is touring by car. Driving south from Sorrento, the road climbs toward the Colli di San Pietro, then descends into Positano. Once a sleepy little fishing village and the secret of painters and writers, its "fatal gift of beauty" has been discovered. However, its charms are still evident; square, white Moorish-style houses
set in luxurious gardens, descend in steep steps down the mountain side to the bay where,
off-shore lay the Galli Islands
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The
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, legendary home of sirens who lured sailors to their
doom. Today the scene is equally alluring. Positano can rightfully be
called one of the most picturesque towns on the Campania coast. From afar it appears to be
enclosed by the beautiful beach of Marina Grande and crowned by the green slopes of Mounts
Comune and Sant’Angelo a Tre Pizzi. Tidily lined up on the terraces sloping down
towards the blue sea, are the typical Moorish style white and pink houses.
Where a wide enough
space can be found, there is always a piazzetta and café with a gathering of people
pausing from the climb on the hundreds of steps which lead up the hillside. According to
tradition, the name of the town originates from “Paestum”, whose inhabitants,
after the destruction of their town by the Saracens, founded Positano near an abbey
already standing there. Within a few years the new settlement assumed a certain degree of
importance in maritime trade, even competing with the much more powerful Amalfi.