2 Best Sights in Amalfi Coast, Italy

From the middle of the 11th century, Amalfi's center of shipbuilding, customs houses, and warehouses was the Arsenale, today the only (partially) preserved medieval shipyard in southern Italy. Ships and galleys up to 80-feet long, equipped with up to 120 oars, were built at this largest arsenal of any medieval maritime republic. Two large Gothic halls here now host the Museo della Bussola e del Ducato Marinaro di Amalfi (Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi) with exhibitions and artifacts from Amalfi's medieval period, including paintings, ancient coins, banners, and jeweled costumes. The highlight is the original 66-chapter draft of the code of the Tavole Amalfitane, the sea laws and customs of the ancient republic, used throughout the Italian Mediterranean from the 13th to the 16th century. The Tavole established everything from prices for boat hires to procedures to be followed in case of a shipwreck. Long one of the treasures of the Imperial Library of Vienna, the draft was returned to Amalfi after more than 500 years. Ten of the arsenal's original 22 stone piers remain; the others were destroyed by storms and changes in the sea level on this ever-active coast.

Painstaking excavations begun in 2003 below the oratory of Santa Maria Assunta are now open to the public and showcase tantalizing traces of Positano's vast Roman settlement buried by the AD 79 eruption. Through volcanic debris some 30 feet below the piazzetta is a cool subterranean world with different captivating chambers and crypts. The new entrance by the campanile leads to the most recently discovered Roman villa excavations, which sit below the Cripta Superiore with its spine-tingling funereal seating, reserved for Positano's most upstanding 18th-century citizens (i.e., the wealthy wanting to book a pew in heaven), members of the Confraternita del Monte dei Morti. Among the Roman artifacts are vibrant frescoes, ornate stucco reliefs, intricate bronzes and ceramics, and the mother of all stone mortars. The excellent restoration shows the impact of eruptions in the strewn debris, contorted surfaces, and cracks; glass stairs and walkways, multimedia displays. and subtle lighting cleverly illuminate the finest details below your feet and all around. Another entrance nearby leads to the Cripta Inferiore, with two naves, marble columns, and later additions (a rough stone altar believed through various documents to be dedicated to the Nativity, plus some 17th-century funereal seating). Ask one of the enthusiastic archaeological guides stationed in the small box by the church entrance for a tour, and you'll be guided down the steps to the new Ingresso Museo Villa Romana entrance behind the bell tower.