Amalfi Coast Culture

The sfusato amalfitano is the local lemon: elongated, thick-skinned, low in acid and grown under pergolas on the terraces. It is the basis of limoncello and of a great deal of local cooking, and the groves are a working crop rather than decoration.

Cetara makes colatura di alici, a clear amber sauce pressed from anchovies layered with salt and left for months. It is a direct descendant of the Roman garum that was made along this coast, and it is used a few drops at a time, most classically on spaghetti at Christmas Eve.

Vietri sul Mare is the ceramics town, and its tiles are visible far beyond it — the majolica dome of Positano’s church and the tiled church roofs along the coast are the same tradition.

Amalfi’s bambagina paper is still made by hand from cotton rag in the valley behind the town. And Positano gave its name to a style of light printed summer clothing that grew up in the 1950s and is still cut and sold in the town.