Amalfi

Innocuous as it looks today, in its 10th century heyday, Amalfi was a maritime power with a trading fleet that controlled the Mediterranean Sea. Called as a Greek nymph, it gives its name to the whole scenic coast and lies at the mouth of the Valle dei Mulini, a natural water-mills valley. Clung on the rock and sea cliffs as a cluster of typical whitewashed houses, the impressive Neo-Byzantine Cathedral of St. Andrew gives an iridescent coloured touch to the evocative view. Amalfi’s Paper Museum and the Ancient Arsenal of the Republic also deserve to be admired.