Museo della Carta
Amalfi (SA)
KnownHistory & archaeology
The story
In an ancient thirteenth-century paper mill, in the Valle dei Mulini, hammers driven by the water of the Canneto still bring Amalfi's handmade paper to life, sheet after sheet.
More gems in Amalfi
Sacred artDuomo di Amalfi
Amalfi
At the top of a steep stairway, the striped Arab-Norman façade; beneath the altar rest the relics of Saint Andrew, brought here from Constantinople.
Sacred artChiostro del Paradiso
Amalfi
Interlaced Moorish arches and palms that filter the light: a thirteenth-century cemetery made for the nobles of Amalfi, as silent as a garden of the East.
- History & archaeology
Antichi Arsenali di Amalfi
Amalfi
Stone vaults opening onto the water, where the Republic built its galleys: the only medieval arsenal left on the coast, memory of Amalfi's sea power.
- Free beaches
Spiagge del Duoglio
Amalfi
Four hundred steps drop from the main road to a beach of pebbles and clear water, the hard-won prize for anyone wanting away from the crowds of Amalfi.
- Free beaches
Santa Croce
Amalfi
Reachable by sea or down a long stairway, a cove beside a rock arch the sea has hollowed out; the water here is the green of glass.
HikingValle delle Ferriere
Amalfi (SA)
Above Amalfi the trail climbs a damp valley of waterfalls and prehistoric ferns, among the ruins of the old ironworks swallowed by the vegetation.
More gems: History & archaeology
History & archaeologyStatua del Nilo ("Corpo di Napoli")
Largo Corpo di Napoli
A river god reclining for centuries in a quiet square, whom Neapolitans call the Corpo di Napoli: he leans his bearded head among putti and a sphinx.
History & archaeologyCappella Pontano
Decumani
A small Renaissance temple on the decumanus, which the humanist Pontano had raised for his lost wife, still lined inside with Latin inscriptions dictated by his grief.
- History & archaeology
Sedile di Nilo
Decumani
On the corner of a small Spaccanapoli square survives the seat of the old Nilo quarter, where the nobles once gathered before the sedili of Naples vanished.
History & archaeologyPort'Alba
Napoli
A seventeenth-century arch cut into the walls leads to the booksellers' street, where stalls of second-hand volumes pile up among yellowed pages and the shade of the old city.
History & archaeologyPorta Capuana
zona Garibaldi
Between two cylindrical towers an arch of white marble opens like a Renaissance triumph, the old city gate facing the road to Capua.
- History & archaeology
MANN — Museo Archeologico Nazionale
P.za Museo
One of the world's great archaeological museums: here the Toro Farnese, the mosaics of Pompeii and the Gabinetto Segreto tell the whole ancient Mediterranean in a single visit.