Photos

View of the city of Amalfi with Mount Cerreto (1,315 m; 4,314 ft) in the background. Amalfi was a maritime power with 70,000 residents until 1343 when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused most of the city and population to fall into the sea and destroyed the port. The tower of the Amalfi Cathedral (Duomo di Amalfi), built in 1208 and named Saint Andrew's Cathedral, may be seen in the foreground.

View of homes on the rugged western coast of Italy in the city of Amalfi.

View of homes and hotels on the rugged western coast of Italy in the city of Amalfi.

Closer view of some of the homes on the rugged western coast of Italy in the city of Amalfi.

View of homes in Positano on the rugged Amalfi Coast. The city is about 18 km east of the city of Amalfi. It was a prosperous port of the Amalfi Republic during the 16th and 17th centuries. Most of the population emigrated in the 19th century, mainly to Australia. In the 1950s, the town began to become popular with artists and writers. Tourists began to arrive in the mid 1950s in large numbers. The city and area are famous for the liqueur Limoncello.

This view show the city of Positano built vertically on the face of a cliff on the rugged Amalfi Coast. In the foreground is the church Our Lady of the Assumption (Santa Maria Assunta) with its gleaming ceramic dome.

Positano is a small, picturesque town on the Amalfi coast. In the 16th and 17th centuries, at the peak of its importance, it was the main port of the Amalfi Republic, but by the first half of the 20th century, it was a poor fishing village. In the 1950s, it emerged as a tourist attraction.

View of the city of Positano on the rugged Amalfi Coast showing the church Our Lady of the Assumption in the foreground and homes built vertically on a cliff in the background.

The ceramic dome of the church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Positano on the Amalfi Coast.

Entrance to the church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Positano. The church was constructed as a Benedictine Monastery in the 10th century and remodeled between 1777 and 1783.

Altar inside the church Our Lady of the Assumption in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. Above the altar is a 13th century Byzantine Black Madonna and Child.

The town of Vernazza on the Italian Riviera is part of the Cinque Terre National Park (a World Heritage Site) established in 1999; which consists of five picturesque villages reached only by hiking trail, train, or ferry.