A slot of green water under a road arch, ending in a pebble beach and a few fishermen's houses; then, two kilometres on, a sea cave that glows emerald at midday and a convent where nuns invented the coast's favourite pastry.
Furore is spread over the cliffs between Praiano and Amalfi with no piazza at all, and calls itself "the village that does not exist". Its heart is the fjord.
The coast road jumps the gorge on a 30-metre arch. Below it, a slot of green water runs back into the cliff and ends in a tiny pebble beach, with the old fishermen's houses and a paper mill built into the rock. Steps lead down from the road. The beach closes whenever rocks fall, which is often, so check before you go.
Up the hill, Furore's houses are painted with murals, and its terraces grow the coast's best wine; Marisa Cuomo's cellar is cut into the cliff here.
Two kilometres east at Conca dei Marini, the Emerald Grotto is a sea cave found by a fisherman in 1932. Light entering underwater turns it green around midday, and a ceramic nativity scene stands on the seabed. You reach it by lift from the road or by boat, for €7 to €10. Above it, the Monastero Santa Rosa is where nuns created the sfogliatella Santa Rosa in the 1600s.
A half day by bus along the coast road, timed to reach the grotto around noon.
Get off the bus at the bridge and look down into the gorge from the road.
Walk down the steps to the pebble beach, the old mill and the fishermen's houses.
Take the bus or a short ride east to the grotto entrance on the road.
Go down by lift and take the rowing-boat tour around the cave and its underwater nativity.
Look up at the Monastero Santa Rosa and find a sfogliatella Santa Rosa in a pastry shop nearby.
SITA buses between Positano and Amalfi stop at the fjord and the grotto; boats from Amalfi also visit the grotto in summer.
The fjord beach and steps close after rockfalls; the grotto may close in rough seas.
Book a tasting at Marisa Cuomo's cliff cellar in advance, Monday to Saturday.
Amalfi Coast practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences; some are our own.
