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Among the most famous vaca-tion spots not only on the Amal Coast but in all of south-ern Italy, Ravello is nestled in themountains between the valleysof the Dragon and the Reginastreams. Ravello, besides being asmall jewel in and of itself, is atown of contrasts between themountainous setting and the seaand the melancholy of the me-dieval palaces and the explosivevitality of their gardens.

The history of Ravello is con-nected to the glorious history of the Maritime Republic of Amal. The rst historically doc-umented evidence of the town’sexistence dates back to the 9thcentury, when it was recorded asa subject of Amal. Incorporatedinto the Duchy of Amal, it fol-lowed that town’s fortunes.

In 1137 Bernardo da Chiar-avalle described it as "ancient,well-fortied and impregnable,

as well as being opulent it is sobeautiful that it can easily benumbered among the rst andmost noble cities."

Under the Normans, and even

more their successors, the Anjoudinasty, Ravello kept growing inprosperity. In the 13th century,which was the period of greatestaffluence, along with Scala, Rav-ello had 36,000 inhabitants.

The clearest testimony to thewealth of that era, is offered bythe numerous civil and religiousbuildings built in Arab-Sicilianstyle that was introduced to thearea by the wealthy merchantfamilies who had commercial re-lations with Sicily, North Africa,Spain and the Middle East. Thetown prospered, thanks in par-ticular to the ourishing wool-spinning mill, known then asthe "Celendra," that was given toBishop Giovanni Allegri by KingCharles II of Anjou in 1292, tostimulate trade, especially withthe Arabs and Byzantines.

After losing its prosperouseconomy, in the 17th century,Ravello was left with an incom-

parable position overlooking theMediterranean Sea and architec-tural and artistic marvels builtduring the centuries of splendor.

The Duomo (#1 on the map),

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Ravello Music in the sky

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or Cathedral, which stands on ahigh podium in piazza del Vescovado, is dedicated toS.Pantaleone and was foundedin 1086 or 1087 by the rstbishop of Ravello. The belltower, at the bottom of the right

side of the church, was built inthe 13th century.Rebuilt in its present form in

the 12th century, the Duomowas remodeled in 1786, whenthe portico that preceded itssimple façade was demolished(only four columns remain). Thelintels of the three doors aremade of marble frames. In themiddle is the precious bronzedoor of Barisano da Trani. Thedoor is divided into 54 panels(one of them has the date, 1179)depicting saints, stories of thePassion and two masks.

The interior, with three naves

divided by ancient columns andpillars, has been completelychanged in a restoration com-pleted in the 1970’s which sup-pressed the vaults and stuccoes,(a few traces are left in thetransept).

To the right of the entrance, atthe bottom on the inner wall of the facade, there are traces of ancient frescoes. In the middleof the left nave, is the ambo,built in 1130 by the bishop of Ravello. It is signicant both forits Byzantine origin and forbeing the sole example of suchstyle in all of southern Italy. It isdecorated with 13th century mo-saics depicting the death andresurrection of Christ. It faces arichly decorated pulpit thatbears inscriptions with the nameof the artist (Niccolò di Bar-tolomeo) and the date: 1272.

The Duomo of Ravello

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1 Duomo2 Villa Rufolo3 Monastero e Chiesa di Santa Chiara

4 Villa Cimbrone (

SCALA5 Cattedrale di San Lorenzo6 Chiesa di Santa Annunziata7 Basilica of Sant'Eustacchio8 Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista

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and rich, polychromous decora-tions. Around the villa lies thegarden, full of exotic plants,pines trees and cypresses. Awonderful backdrop to the ro-mantic ruins it inspired Richard

Wagner to think of the magicgarden of Klingsor in "Parsifal".From piazza del Vescovado, to

the right of Villa Rufolo, one cantake via San Francesco , whichafter a arch moves uphill withsteps toward the church of thesame name.

Continuing on via SantaChiara, which offers a beautiful

view of the rising mountainsaround Ravello, one arrives atanother church, preceded by asmall porch. Already in exis-tence in the 13th century but re-built in 18th, the Monastero &Chiesa di Santa Chiara (#3) hasthree naves with ancientcolumns and an 18th centurymaiolica tile oor. The adjoining

monastery was founded in 1333.Past Santa Chiara, a staircase

to the right leads to Villa Cim-brone (#4, open daily 9am-8pmin the Summer, 9am to sunsetthe rest of the year, tel (+39) 089

858072). The Belvedere Cim-brone on the most prominentpoint of the spur where Ravellowas built, offers a spectacularview from Amal to the plain of Paestum.

In the spring of 1880, Richard Wagner arrived at Villa Rufolo,in Ravello, accompanied by hisstage designer, the painter

Joukovsky. At that time, thegreat German musician wasworking on Parsifal. In Ravello Wagner found both inspirationfor the scenography of Act 2 of Parsifal and ideas for improvingthe whole musical architectureof his ultimate masterpiece.Other musical giants inspiredhere were Arturo Toscanini,

Villa Ruffolo

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The marble case is decoratedwith rectangular marblecolumns, mosaics and elegantfriezes and is supported by sixspiral columns, also decoratedwith mosaics, and the roaring

of young lions at the base. Themosaics are mostly made withceramic tiles that were im-ported from Syria in the 13thcentury.

From the right transept youenter into the Sacristy , wherethere is a painting from the be-ginning of the 14th centuryrepresenting a Madonna with

Child, Saint Sebastiana andMary Magdalene; another paint-ing with the Archangel Michael,vestments from the 17th to the19th century and a collection of scrolls.

In the Crypt of the Museumof the Cathedral there are carv-ings and jewelery from variouseras, Roman sarcophagi, 13thand 14th century tombstones,and various fragments deco-rated with 12th century mosaics.

On the right of the cathedral,a square tower marks the en-trance to the complex of VillaRufolo (#2, open daily 9am-8pm, tel:(+39) 089 857657, web-site).

Built in the 13th and 14th cen-turies, it was repeatedly refur-bished in the followingcenturies.The villa, built on a

terrace overlooking the bay, waserected in the second half of the14th century by the Rufolos, therichest family of Ravello ( a Lan-dolfo Rufolo is remembered byBoccaccio in his "Decameron"),who then passed it along to thethe Confalones and then theD’Afflittos. In 1851 it was boughtby the Scotsman Francis NevilleReid, who restored it. A pointedarch leads to the vestibule of theTower (early 14th century),which is decorated with inter-laced arches in the ceiling andon the walls, and four limestonestatues (on the corners).

The path leading to the frontof the villa is shaded by large cy-

press trees and creepers. To theright is the square courtyard.Similar to a cloister, it has twoorders of loggias on columns

Duomo, interior

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13th century wooden sculptures(a Crucix, the Virgin and St.John).

From the little square to theright of the church there is abeautiful view of Ravello. Scala,

like other towns on the AmalCoast, has a polycentric struc-ture, made up of small neighbor-hoods stretching from North toSouth and defended by two cas-tles.

Outside Scala

The small borgo of Campi-doglio (the Capitol), with twosmall churches offers a beautifulview of Ravello and the sea. About a thousand yards fromScala is Minuto , the site of theoriginal cathedral.

The Chiesa di Santa Annun-ziata (#6, visit on request), builtat the end of the 13th century, is

preceded by a portico with threepointed arches and three por-tals. In the interior, with threenaves divided by ten ancient

columns of oriental granite,there are a marble eagle (rsthalf of the 14th century), a13th/14th century baptismal fontand, behind the altar, a 13th cen-tury urn. The crypt is decorated

with 12th century frescoes(Christ between Saint John theBaptist and the prophets Danieland David; Life of Mary; Legendof St. Nicholas ).

From the square in front of the church and to the south, onecan see the ruins of the Basilicadi Sant'Eustacchio (#7), or Basil-ica of St. Eustace. Simply judgingfrom what is left of it, this basil-ica must have been extraordi-nary, and it is absolutely worthvisiting even today.

Near Scala is the village of Pontone , known as Scalella untilthe middle of the 12th century.In its main square, where theroads toward Minuto, Amal

and Atrani converge, one ndsthe Chiesa di San Giovanni Bat-tista (#8) , or St. John the Baptist.

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Bruno Walter, Leonard Bern-stein and Mstilav Rostropovich.

Ravello has also hosted artistssuch as the Spanish painterMirò, the Dutch artist MauritiusCornelius Escher and, at the be-ginning of the 19th century,Turner, the English engraverand watercolorist.

Literary gures have been at-tracted to the town since Boc-caccio visited it in the 13thcentury and called it one of "themost delightful place in Italy”.Ravello also had the good for-tune to repeatedly play host to

other English writers, including Virginia Woolf, author of To theLighthouse. David HerbertLawrence wrote numerouschapters of Lady Chatterley'sLover in Ravello, and AndréGide set a part of his novel, TheImmoralist here.

Others include Paul Valéry,Graham Greene, Tennessee Williams, Rafael Alberti and, of course, Gore Vidal, who lived in

Ravello for decades.

ScalaJust outside Ravello, in a beau-

tiful position on the right bankof the River Dragon, is the smalltown of Scala which already ex-isted in the early Christian era asattested to by the many thirdand 4th century tombs foundthere.

Scala's Cattedrale di SanLorenzo (#5), or cathedral of St.Lawrenc), dedicated to , is men-tioned in a document from 1169.

On the facade, which has asimple 18th century decorationand is preceded by two barecolumns, are the beautiful Ro-manesque portal and a sepul-chral slab of the Angevin era.The interior, with three widenaves, has 18th century stuccodecorations, and a coffered ceil-ing dated 1746. The safe in thelast pillar on the right preservesa bishop's miter with enameldecorations from the 13th and14th centuries, donated byCharles of Anjou, and a silverchalice with enamel decorationsdated 1332. From the right aisle,a staircase leads to the Crypt,one of the most interesting

structures in the Amal Coast. Itis divided into two aisles by fourtall bare columns that holdvaults. Above the main altar are

Scala, Cathedral of San Lorenzo

The ruins of Sant’Eustacchio