Known for
A medieval maritime republic and centuries of handmade paper
Must-see landmarks
Duomo di Sant'Andrea, Cloister of Paradise and the Museo della Carta
World Heritage
Part of the Amalfi Coast, UNESCO World Heritage listed since 1997
Free to visit
Piazza Duomo, Saint Andrew's Fountain and Marina Grande
Amalfi's harbour beach curves below the town at the mouth of the valley, backed by the cafes of the Lungomare dei Cavalieri promenade. Boats to Positano, Capri and the Emerald Grotto leave from the jetty here. The Arsenale della Repubblica is a level 3 minute walk along the water.
The medieval shipyard of the Maritime Republic keeps its stone arches and vaulted bays, one of the few of its kind still standing anywhere and documented as far back as 1042. It now hosts a small museum on Amalfi's seafaring history. Piazza Duomo is a 2 minute walk inland.
Amalfi's main square opens at the foot of a monumental staircase, its cafes facing the cathedral above. At its centre stands Saint Andrew's Fountain, a Baroque fountain of 1760 where locals still fill water bottles. The Duomo is right at the top of the steps.
The cathedral, founded in 987, wears a striped facade added in 1891 below a majolica-tiled bell tower begun in 1180, its bronze doors cast in Constantinople in the 11th century. A ticket covers the Cloister of Paradise, the Basilica of the Crucifix and the crypt of St Andrew. Supportico Rua is a 5 minute walk uphill.
A covered medieval lane follows the buried course of the Canneto stream past the remains of a 13th century Arab-style bathhouse tucked into its walls. It opens onto the Rua Nova Mercatorum, the old town's main trading street. Museo della Carta is a 13 minute walk further up the valley.
The Valle dei Mulini narrows into the gorge that once powered more than a dozen paper mills, and this one still turns its water wheels and presses while paper is made by hand for visitors to watch. Amalfi was among the first places in western Europe to make paper, from the 12th century onward.
Amalfi's central square costs nothing to cross or linger in at any hour, its cafes and the grand staircase up to the cathedral open to anyone without a ticket. Early morning and evening leave it far quieter than the midday rush of day-trippers.
This fountain at the middle of Piazza Duomo still flows for free, meant for refilling bottles rather than tossing coins. It sits in the open plaza just below the cathedral, where the ticketed cloister, crypt and museum begin once visitors step inside.
Amalfi's harbour beach and the seafront promenade above it charge nothing for walking the sand or swimming. Concessions along the shore rent out sunbeds and umbrellas for those who want them, though the beach itself stays open to all without a ticket.
Atrani costs nothing to reach or wander, whether arriving along the short coastal path from Amalfi or through the old tunnel under the headland. Its piazza, lanes and beach stay open to anyone without a ticket, quietest outside the midday boat-trip rush.
This vaulted medieval lane cuts through central Amalfi free of charge and at any hour, a shaded, quiet alternative to the main street above it. Part of it now fronts a small ceramics shop, but the passage itself stays open and free to walk.
Walking the gorge trail up from the paper mills costs nothing, though the FAI-run reserve around its waterfalls charges its own separate ticket. A bypass keeps the route open around an old landslide, but heavy rain can still close sections without notice.
A ruined Norman watchtower on the ridge between Amalfi and Atrani, Torre dello Ziro is reached by a stepped path of around 45 minutes to an hour, its open platform looking down on both towns and the coastline at no cost.
A hamlet of the comune of Amalfi in the hills above town, Pogerola is reached on a signed path past the paper museum in around 30 to 40 minutes, its terraces and the church of Madonna delle Grazie looking down over the coast, free to explore.
Amalfi gave its name to the whole stretch of coast, yet the town itself holds only a few thousand people packed into a ravine where the Valle dei Mulini meets the sea. From the 9th century it was the capital of one of medieval Italy's four maritime republics, alongside Venice, Genoa and Pisa, trading as far as Byzantium and Egypt, minting its own gold coin the tari and drafting the Tavole Amalfitane, among the earliest maritime codes in the Mediterranean. A seaquake and flood in 1343 drowned its harbour and lower town and ended that power for good, leaving behind a cathedral, a shipyard and a valley of paper mills that still define it today.
The historic centre fits into a few hundred metres between the harbour and the cathedral steps, its lanes threading past Supportico Rua and the Rua Nova Mercatorum up to the Valle dei Mulini, where the Museo della Carta keeps the water mills running. Atrani, a separate town in its own right, sits an easy walk or short tunnel away around the headland, and the hamlet of Pogerola climbs the hillside behind, both reached on foot from the centre.
April to June and September to October bring warm, quieter weather ahead of and after the August crowds and coastal road traffic. A single day covers the historic centre at an easy pace, with a second half day worth adding for Atrani, the Valle delle Ferriere or the climb to Torre dello Ziro.
The centre is entirely on foot, though the paths up the Valle dei Mulini and to Pogerola or Torre dello Ziro climb steeply. SITA buses run along the coast road to Positano, Sorrento and Salerno, and seasonal ferries connect the harbour with Naples, Salerno, Capri and the other coastal towns. Amalfi has no train station of its own; the nearest are in Salerno and Sorrento.