.jpg?width=1920)
A tenth of a square kilometre of houses, arches and stairways packed round a single piazza under the coast road. Five minutes from Amalfi, and a world away from its crowds.
Atrani is one of the smallest municipalities in Italy by area, a village of around 800 people in a ravine just east of Amalfi.
The coast road crosses the mouth of the valley on a viaduct, and beneath it everything happens in Piazza Umberto I, a square the size of a living room with cafés, a fountain and children playing football. From it, covered passages and stairways climb between the houses. M.C. Escher drew these stacked roofs and stairs in the 1930s, and it is easy to see why.
The doges of the Amalfi republic were invested in the church of San Salvatore de' Birecto above the square. Higher up, the church of Santa Maria Maddalena, with its majolica dome, looks out over the sea. The beach under the viaduct is where locals from both towns swim.
By day Atrani is a calm alternative to Amalfi. By night it is better still: dinner in the square when the day trippers have gone home is the best evening on this stretch of coast.
A short walk over in the late afternoon, a swim, and dinner as the lights come on.
Walk east from Amalfi's harbour through the pedestrian tunnel or along the cliff path.
Arrive under the viaduct into the square and get a drink at a café table.
Climb the steps to San Salvatore de' Birecto, where Amalfi's rulers were crowned.
Continue up for the majolica dome and the view over the rooftops to the sea.
Back down to the beach for a swim, then dinner in the square.
On foot from Amalfi in 5 to 10 minutes. Buses stop on the road above, but walking is quicker.
A handful of guesthouses and apartments; a calm base with Amalfi's transport on the doorstep.
This is a living village; keep voices down in the stairways at night.
Amalfi Coast practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences; some are our own.
.jpg){kind=link}