 The
origin of the town is not a certain one. A legend tells that
the name comes from Amalfi, a nymph loved by Hercules, whose
name was Amalfi. She died young and Hercules buried here in the
most beautifula place for him and built there a town with her
name. From the historic point of view, Amalfi was founded after
the death of Costantine. Some Roman families shipwrecked in the
Gulf of Policastro and founded the town "Melphes", today Melfi. Afterwards they moved northerly and founded a second town with the name "A-Meplphes",
Amalfi.
Amalfi was surely inhabited by Romans, escaped on the Lattari Mounts to hide from Germanic and Longobard invasions. It was a castrum in defence of Byzantine ducat of Naples and had a privileged relation to Byzantium thanks to its ability in the commerce.
the sailors from Amalfi were able to manage commercial relations
to all the towns of Mediterranean Sea, also to Saracens. Amalfi
people invented the compass and spread its use in the Mediterranean
sea in the first half of XIII century, but the today famous "mythic" inventor, Flavio Gioia, never existed. Notwithstanding, a monument in the main square of Amalfi was dedicated to him by an artist from Cava de' Tirreni, Alfonso Balzico. An ancient Amalfi tradition tells that a man, Giovanni Gioia, was the real person who invented the compass.
Amalfi has been an Episcopal seat since 596. On the 1st September
839 Amalfi separated from the Ducat of Naples and became an autonomous
town. Longobard princes had always been interested to conquer this
rich town, but Amalfi was able to resist. The small autonomous
state was governed by a count, elected each year by representatives
from the noble families and then it was governed by a duke. During
that period the state covered the area between Cetara and Positano,
together with Capri and Li Galli isles, and in the inner part it
also included the Lattari Mounts until to Gragnano, near Sorrento.
The town of Amalfi was the capital of the Maritime Republic
of Amalfi, an important trading power in the Mediterranean between
839 and around 1200. This was the best period for Amalfi: it
was also the period of the rivalry with Pisa, Genoa and Venice.
Amalfi had its own currency: the tarì. Commerce was very prosperous and merchants had colonies in many places on the Mediterranean Sea. There was the institution of the maritime law code, too. It was called "Tavola amalfitana" , which is today kept as a paper copy of XVII century in the Civic Museum, 'Museo Civico'.
In 1039 Guaimar IV, Prince of Salerno, subdued Amalfi for a
short while. He annexed Amalfi to Salerno together with Sorrento,
Gaeta and the duchies of Apulia and Calabria. Then Robert Guiscard
started its domination in Southern Italy. In 1073 Amalfi had
to ask him for to be protected from the pressure by Salerno and
the last duke of Amalfi, Marino Sebaste, was removed. The Normans
occupied Amalfi but Robert Guiscard was very magnanimous with
the Amalfitans. After his death in 1085 Amalfi often tried to
free itself from the Normans.In 1131 it had been conquered by
Ruggiero II, the Norman king.He protected Amalfi and its commerce
that represented a very important resource for the Reign of Sicily.
In 1135 the Pisans, who were part of this alliance against
the Normans, betrayed Amalfi and sacked it, including the near
towns. The Amalfi Coast became a feud governed by several different
noble families loosing wealth and power. The commercial power
of Amalfi completely declined also because of anti-Byzantine
politics of Norman rulers: Amalfi could no more trade with
Byzantine towns, but only with the ports of Southern Italy.
During Middle Ages Amalfi had powerful fleets: a military
navy and a commercial one. The military one was very strong
and defeated many times Arabs, for example in the famous
battle of Ostia (849) when Amalfi navy contributed to the
defence of Rome against Muslims. Amalfi built its ships in
an arsenal whose ruins still remain. It is now the only survived
arsenal in Southern Italy. It was restructured in 1240 and
1272. Commercial ships were built on the beaches, called
for that reason with the Byzantine name of "scaria". In the night between 24th and 25th November there was a terrible landslip that submerged the port. It was provoked by a terrible Libeccio storm.
In 1398 Amalfi became a feud of Sanseverino family, then
of the Colonna, Orsini and Piccolomini families. In XV century
Amalfi was ruled by Aragons and there was the arrival of
Catalan merchants that were in competition with the local
ones. This was another period of decadence.
In 1643 there was a terrible and cruel plague, a third
of the population died. The coast became more and more miserable.
In XVIII century Amalfi was almost uninhabited, the noble
families had moved to Naples, but in this period there was
the naissance of new handicraft activities: the "centrellari", who built rivets in Pogerola, the coral-workers, the goldsmiths, the blacksmiths and the "calafati", workers who repaired ships to make them waterproof).
In June 1807 Giuseppe Bonaparte was enchanted by the Coast
during his first visit and decided to build a road from
Naples to Amalfi. The road was completed in 1854 by Ferdinand
II. In 1879 the famous writer Erik Ibsen, walking through
the narrow streets of the Coast, found there the right
inspiration to complete his masterpiece "A doll's house".
In XX century Amalfi became a famous tourist destination,
the "dolce vita" arrives from Rome to Capri and Amalfi: film directors, artists, actors and actresses came to this Coast. |
