12 Best Sights in Amalfi Coast, Italy

Ravello's first bishop, Orso Papiciò, founded this cathedral in 1086. Rebuilt in the 12th and 17th centuries, it retains traces of medieval frescoes in the transept, a marble portal, and a three-story 13th-century bell tower playfully interwoven with mullioned windows and arches. The 12th-century bronze door has 54 embossed panels depicting Christ's life, and saints, prophets, plants, and animals, all narrating biblical lore. Ancient columns divide the nave's three aisles, and treasures include sarcophagi from Roman times and paintings by the southern Renaissance artist Andrea da Salerno. Most impressive are the two medieval pulpits: the earlier one (on your left as you face the altar) is inset with a mosaic scene of Jonah and the whale, symbolizing death and redemption. The more famous one opposite was commissioned by Nicola Rufolo in 1272 and created by Niccolò di Bartolomeo da Foggia, with exquisite mosaic work, bas-reliefs, and six twisting columns sitting on lion pedestals. An eagle grandly tops the inlaid marble lectern.

A chapel to the left of the apse is dedicated to San Pantaleone, a physician beheaded in the 3rd century in Nicomedia. Every July 27 devout believers gather in hope of witnessing a miracle (similar to that of San Gennaro in Naples), in which the saint's blood, collected in a vial and set out on an inlaid marble altar, appears to liquefy and come to a boil.

In the crypt is the Museo del Duomo, which displays religious treasures, including many from the 13th century during the reign of Frederick II of Sicily.

Complicated, grand, delicate, and dominating, the 9th-century Amalfi cathedral has been remodeled over the years with Romanesque, Byzantine, Gothic, and Baroque elements but retains a predominantly Arab-Norman style. This intriguing blend of architectural styles easily confuses past and present, old and new, authentic and revival. The facade, with its glimmering mosaics, intricate patterns, and Arab design influences, is in fact no older than the 19th century. It was the master work of Neapolitan architect Errico Alvino, created during the height of Italy's fascination with Revivalism. The campanile, spliced with Saracen colors and intricate tile work, is the real deal and dates to the 13th century. The Chiostro del Paradiso (Paradise Cloister) is an Arab-Sicilian spectacular. Built around 1266 as a burial ground for Amalfi's elite, the cloister, the first stop on a tour of the cathedral, is one of southern Italy's architectural treasures. Its flower-and-palm-filled quadrangle has a series of exceptionally delicate intertwining arches on slender double columns.

The chapel at the back of the cloister leads into the earlier (9th-century) basilica. Romanesque in style, the structure has a nave, two aisles, and a high, deep apse. Note the 14th-century crucifixion scene by a student of Giotto. This section has now been transformed into a museum, housing sarcophagi, sculpture, Neapolitan goldsmiths' artwork, and other treasures from the cathedral complex.

Steps from the basilica lead down into the Cripta di Sant'Andrea (Crypt of St. Andrew). The cathedral above was built in the 13th century to house the saint's bones, which came from Constantinople and supposedly exuded a miraculous liquid believers call the "manna of St. Andrew." Following the one-way traffic up to the cathedral itself, you finally get to admire the elaborate polychrome marbles and painted, coffered ceilings from its 18th-century restoration. Art historians shake their heads over this renovation, as the original decoration of the apse must have been one of the wonders of the Middle Ages.

Dedicated to Cetara's patron saint, the church of San Pietro Apostolo has its origins in 988, its vibrant majolica-tiled cupola soaring over Neoclassical exteriors visible all around Cetara. Set in the Borgo Marinaro fishing quarter and suitably dedicated to the protector of fisherman, the church's bronze doors (inaugurated in 2005) by Battisto Marello (1948-) depict the saint with keys to the Kingdom of Heaven beside brother Sant'Andrea holding fishing nets and writhing fish. See if you can spot Christ overseeing all in the background. Popping into focus among the late Baroque interiors of marble-work, statuary and painting is a wonderful, recent stained glass window addition (1993). Center stage again are the fraternal apostles amid a Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, Cetara skyline, sheep, and busy fishing folk.

This church is adjacent to the confraternity founded in 1765 to organize Amalfi's Good Friday celebrations, a short stroll up the Salita Brancia behind the Duomo. The entrance gate bears a late-Gothic bas-relief of the Crucifixion, once belonging to nobility from the nearby village of Scala and identified by its coat of arms at the foot of the cross. The interior is Neoclassical, with a coffered ceiling and a harmonious scale; note the 16th-century marble Madonna and Child in the sacristy. Opening times for this church are erratic, but Mass is held on Saturday afternoon.

Across the tiny piazza from the Hotel Caruso is the noted 11th-century church of San Giovanni del Toro. Its evocative interior has three high apses and a crypt with 14th-century frescoes of Christ and the apostles. A 12th-century ambo (pulpit) by Alfano da Termoli startles the eye with its blue Persian majolica and four columns topped with elaborate capitals. The chapel of the Coppola family in the left aisle has an exceptional 14th-century relief of St. Catherine of Alexandria. The small church's three porticos adorned with lunettes show an Arabian influence, and the tripartite back facade is exquisite. Restoration work on the church commenced in 2003, with no sign of being completed. The church has some erratic summer opening hours; inquire about them at the Duomo or Azienda Autonoma Soggiorno e Turismo.

For Conca in excelsis, head up the hill on Via Don Amodio, opposite the Hotel Belvedere, to Conca dei Marini's northern reaches. Your reward after a short climb up the hillside roads and steep scalinatelle is the stunningly sited neo-Byzantine church of San Pancrazio, set in a palm-tree garden. Opposite this church, in the direction of Positano, is a road leading to Punta Vreca, a sky-high lookout over the coast. Climbing farther up the scalinatella San Pancrazio will take you to the tiny town piazza.

In the Middle Ages, the 10th-century church of San Salvatore de Bireto played an important role in the crowning of new doges for the Republic of Amalfi. The name Birecto likely comes from the Semitic word biru, meaning a small stream of water, referring to the fact that the church is built on an arch right over a stream—today a narrow road leading through Atrani. The church was remodeled in the 1800s but has received a careful restoration to reveal some aspects of its medieval past, including Arab-influenced Gothic designs, ancient ceramic tile work, and religious artifacts like a curious 12th-century marble plaque showing two peacocks. The paneled bronze doors cast in the 11th century came from Constantinople, as did the doors in the Amalfi Duomo, both testimonies to the cultural and commercial exchange between the Republic of Amalfi and the Orient.

Spectacularly cantilevered hundreds of feet over the coastline on a stone parapet, this elegant Neoclassical white church is also known as Chiesa Principale di San Giovanni Battista. It's only open for Sunday-morning services, but if for a quick peek at other times you might ask locals if someone (il custode: caretaker) has a key to open the church. Just ask, "Dov'è la persona che ci potrebbe far visitare la chiesa?" For those who want to see churches in coastal villages, this may be the only way to gain entry.

A 13th-century church with a graceful dome, Santa Maria a Gradillo was where the town noblemen gathered to discuss civic issues; its atrium collapsed in the 18th century. The small Sicilian-Saracenic bell tower has two light mullion windows. Ask about the church's most current opening hours at Duomo or Azienda Autonoma Soggiorno e Turismo.

The Chiesa Madre, or parish church of Santa Maria Assunta, lies just south of the Palazzo Murat, its green-and-yellow majolica dome topped by a perky cupola. Built on the site of the former Benedictine abbey of St. Vito, the 13th-century Romanesque structure was almost completely rebuilt in 1700. At the altar is a Byzantine 13th-century painting on wood of Madonna with Child, known popularly as the Black Virgin. A replica is carried to the beach every August 15 to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. Embedded over the doorway of the church's bell tower is a medieval bas-relief of fish, a fox, and a pistrice (the mythical half-dragon, half-dog sea monster). This is one of the few relics of the medieval abbey of Saint Vito.

With its scenic setting on the edge of Atrani with the Amalfi Coast road curving around its base, the Santa Maria Maddalena church certainly has the most eye-catching setting of any building along the coastline. Sixteenth-century paintings attributed to Amalfi Coast artists adorn this church that was built in 1274 and given a Baroque facade in 1852. Majolica tiles cover the dome, and the bell tower has an octagonal belfry similar to the campanile of the Carmine church in Naples. Among the treasures here are the altar, with its richly colored marbles, and the aforementioned paintings, St. Magdalene between St. Sebastian and St. Andrew by Giovannangelo D'Amato of Maiori, and The Incredulity of St. Thomas by Andrea da Salerno. However, the view from the charming piazza in front of the church is alone worth the climb.

As inscribed on a capital at the entrance, one Duke Mansone I had this church constructed in 986. Though the layout is Byzantine, a 16th-century overhaul inverted the entrance and high altar, and the decoration is now mostly Baroque. The campanile dates from the 12th century, and there's a noteworthy 18th-century crèche. Church hours are erratic; check with the Duomo for when Mass is scheduled.