An ancient Greek city in the Campanian countryside

The Second Temple of Nera, which is arguably
the most impressive of Paestum's Greek temples

Three of the best-preserved Greek temples in the world still stand in idyllic, rural surroundings to the south of the city of Salerno.

The Doric temples at Paestum are colossal and fascinating to contemplate and, amazingly, they have survived for almost 2600 years. 

On a site open to the public, it is mind-boggling for visitors to be able to stand in front of them and try to imagine how they could have been constructed without the machinery and equipment we have today.

The oldest temple, built around 550 BC by the Greeks and the furthest south on the site, was where the goddess Hera was worshipped, and it is now known as the First Temple of Hera. Next to it is the Second Temple of Hera, built around 460 to 450 BC. This was when the settlement would have been called Poseidonia.

At the northern end of the site is the Temple of Athena, which is thought to have been constructed between 510 and 500 BC and which is dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena.

The First Temple of Hera, the oldest of the three
Greek temples, was built around 550 BC

The smaller Temple of Peace, which is in the Roman forum and less well preserved, is a Corinthian-Doric construction dating back to the second century BC. There are also the remains of an amphitheatre, and other buildings and assembly areas used by the Romans, who later took over the site, which was known to them as Paestum.

You get an idea of the scale of the temples when you see people posing against them for photographs, who appear to be insignificant and doll-like against the huge structures.

What is an archaeological treasure now was once a flourishing town. But life in Paestum was abruptly halted when it was sacked by Muslim raiders in the ninth century. Fortunately, the temples were too well built to be destroyed completely and they were rediscovered by archaeologists in the 18th century.

The Temple of Athena, which is thought
to have been completed around 500 BC

To reach the archaeological site of the temples you can travel by train from Salerno to Paestum and then it is about a kilometre walk from the station. The three temples are visible against a background of trees and umbrella pines and dominate the surrounding countryside as you approach them.

At the entrance gates to the site there is the national Museum of Paestum, where you can look at objects recovered from the site, such as pots and funerary items, and Greek and Roman paintings, including the iconic picture of the diver, a tomb decoration that will be familiar to many people because it has been widely reproduced in books. There are also shops, and a bar.

Entrance to the archaeological site costs 12 euros per adult in the summer and six euros per adult in the winter.

(Prices correct as of 10.10.24)

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Piano di Sorrento

See spectacular sunsets from the plain of Sorrento

Looking across the marina at Cassano, the
fishing village that forms part of Piano di Sorrento

A few minutes journey from Sorrento is Piano di Sorrento, a former fishing village situated between Sant'Agnello and Meta as you travel in the direction of Naples. 

Primarily a residential area with plenty of shops, Piano di Sorrento has a marina and two small beaches with an area free for use by the public.

The village of Piano di Sorrento became more prosperous when the supply of power and water was improved, after the creation of a railway tunnel between Vico Equense and Castellammare di Stabia. This moved the area’s economic base from just fishing, agriculture, and boat-building towards tourism.

You can now reach Piano di Sorrento from Sorrento in about five minutes by car, bus or on the Circumvesuviana railway. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes and some hotels and B&Bs in the town.

Piano di Sorrento is divided into two distinct areas, Cassano and Carotto, and above the town are the Colli di San Pietro, hills that have lovely views over the Bay of Naples and the Bay of Salerno.

In the centre of the town is the ninth century Basilica di San Michele Arcangelo and the Villa Fondi de Sangro, which is open to the public and houses the Museo Archeologico George Vallet which houses interesting artefacts unearthed from excavations in the area. You can watch spectacular sunsets from benches in the park belonging to the villa, which is on a high cliff looking out over the Bay of Naples.

The Victorian poet Robert Browning is said to have once stayed in the area and he mentions the countryside of Piano di Sorrento and other places along the Sorrentine peninsula in his poem "The Englishman in Italy".

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Chiesa di Sant’Anna at Marina Grande

Pretty church at the heart of an annual celebration

The church, with its pink and green
façade, is set in its own square

Right in the middle of Marina Grande, set back from the beach in its own little square, is a pretty 17th century church dedicated to Saint Anne (Sant’Anna), the mother of the Virgin Mary.

The Baroque church, with its pink and cream façade, was built on the site of a much earlier church and paid for by the local fishermen. Originally, the church was dedicated to souls in purgatory, but it was later rededicated to Saint Anne, the grandmother of Jesus.

It is about a ten-minute walk from Piazza Tasso to visit the church. You go through Piazza Vittoria and along Via Marina Grande and as you descend to the seafront, you will catch a glimpse of the green and yellow patterned cupola and the campanile of the parish church.

Walk along the seafront past the Da Emilia restaurant and you will find the church on your left. The entrance door, flanked by two marble columns, leads into the simple interior, which has a single nave and a wooden trussed ceiling. Behind the main altar is a statue of Saint Anne and the church also has sculptures of the crucified Christ and John the Baptist.

The floor is covered in white and grey marble and on the opposite wall of the church, high above the entrance door, is a pipe organ.

The church's green cupola can be 
seen in the centre of this picture 

The feast day of the Saints, Anne and Joachim, who were the parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus, is celebrated on 26 July each year at Marina Grande. A few days before, lights shaped like sea shells and sweet stalls appear alongside the long-established restaurants and bars.

It is a tradition that handmade handkerchiefs are sold from one of the stalls, along with a special blessing offering protection to pregnant women, as Saint Anne is also the patron saint of pregnancy and motherhood.

The first Sunday after 26 July, trumpets sound early in the morning to herald the beginning of a large procession, when the statue of Sant’Anna is carried around Sorrento. People come by boat afterwards to join in the celebrations at Marina Grande and eat traditional Sorrento specialities at the restaurants.

The day ends with spectacular fireworks that light up the bay, accompanied by classical music, signalling the end of the festivities for another year.

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Basilica di Sant’Antonino

Church displays whalebone to commemorate brave deed by saint

The Basilica di Sant'Antonino dates
back to at least the 11th century

The Basilica di Sant’Antonino in Sorrento, considered the town's most important church after the Duomo, is named after one of the city’s patron saints.

The present building in Piazza Sant'Antonino dates back to at least the 11th century, although it is thought to have been built on top of a seventh century oratory housing the saint’s tomb.

The grey tuff façade and bell tower were added during the Renaissance period and the interior was refurbished in baroque style in the 18th century.

Some of the marble columns in the church are believed to have come from villas built in the area by the Romans, which were eventually abandoned.

The church has a beautiful example of a presepe (crib) with 17th century figures made by the best Neapolitan sculptors of the time.

The crypt, which was rebuilt in the 1700s, has many paintings and gifts offered by sailors to fulfil vows they made after they believed their lives had been saved, thanks to the intervention of Sant’Antonino, when they were in peril on the sea.

The pulpit of tarsia (inlaid wood) was made by local craftsmen in the 1930s.

The basilica has a whale rib on display in the
lobby to commemorate Sant'Antonino's bravery

The church was badly damaged in the 16th century by Turkish pirates who succeeded in landing and then invading Sorrento, but it was later restored and refurbished and was made a basilica in 1924.

Antonino Abate, who became Sorrento’s principal saint, died on 14 February, 626 AD. He is credited with saving the life of a child who had been swallowed by a whale by rescuing it from the whale’s stomach.  A whale rib is on display in the lobby of the church to commemorate the brave deed by Sant’Antonino. The saint is also revered by local people for protecting Sorrento against plague and invasion as well as intervening after shipwrecks to save lives.

Each year on the anniversary of his death, a silver statue of Sant’Antonino is carried in a procession through the streets of Sorrento and there are festive lights, fireworks, and musical events in his name.

(Whale rib picture by Mentnafunangann via Wikimedia Commons)

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Poet Torquato Tasso’s birthplace in Sorrento

Renaissance writer came back to Sorrento later in life

Torquato Tasso, who has come to be regarded as the greatest Italian poet of the Renaissance, was born in 1544 in Sorrento.

Tasso’s most famous work was his epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata (Jerusalem Delivered) in which he gives an imaginative account of the battles between Christians and Muslims at the end of the first crusade during the siege of Jerusalem.

Part of Imperial Hotel Tramontano
was Tasso's birthplace

He was one of the most widely read poets in Europe and his work was later to prove inspirational for other writers who followed him, in particular the English poets Spencer and Byron. 

The house where Tasso was born on 11 March, 1544 is in Sorrento’s historic centre, a few streets away from the main square in Via Vittorio Veneto.

The remains of the villa, which was built on the edge of a cliff, now form part of the Imperial Hotel Tramontano.

A plaque on the back wall of the hotel quotes words written by Tasso’s father, Bernardo Tasso, who was also a poet.

Torquato Tasso lived in the villa until 1552 when his father was exiled from Sorrento along with his employer, Prince Ferrante Sanseverino, after they were both accused of being rebels.

Part of the original house where Tasso was born fell into the sea in 1662. Only a room with two arches and balconies overlooking the sea remain. In the 17th century a villa was built incorporating the remains and this eventually became the Imperial Hotel Tramontano, which was opened in 1812.

Tasso’s father, Bernardo, went on to become resident poet at the Ducal Palace in Urbino, enabling his son to study alongside Francesco Maria della Rovere, the heir to the Duke. Tasso was later sent to study law in Padua but he chose to write poetry instead.

Tasso spent years in Ferrara living at the Castle owned by the Este family, where he fell in love with a lady in waiting and wrote love sonnets to her.

He suffered as a result of the jealous behaviour of the other courtiers and this led to him developing a persecution mania and fearing he was going to be poisoned. He also believed he was going to be denounced by the Inquisition.

House of Cornelia Tasso

While still enjoying the patronage of the Duke of Ferrara, Tasso entered a Franciscan convent for the benefit of his health, but later escaped, disguised as a peasant and travelled to Sorrento.

He went to visit his only sister, Cornelia, in her house in the historic centre of Sorrento, situated between the main street and the sea.

You can still see Cornelia’s house, tucked away in a narrow street, Via San Nicola, at number 11. It became known as the Sersale house because Cornelia had married Marzio Sersale in 1558.

Cornelia continued to live in the house with her sons Antonino and Alessandro after she became a widow.

The house can be identified by a pretty little balcony on the front, which is supported by decorative stonework.

It is said that Tasso arrived at Cornelia’s house and pretended to be a messenger who had come to inform her of her brother’s death.

Tasso is believed to have been trying to test Cornelia’s loyalty to him, but her shock and distress on receiving the news was enough to reassure him that she could be trusted.

Despite enjoying happy months with his sister in Sorrento, Tasso found that he missed the court at Ferrara and wrote humbly to the Duke asking if he could come back.

But he continued to be unwell on his return to Ferrara and his erratic conduct eventually led to him being confined in the madhouse of Sant’Anna.

Although Tasso was to enjoy some freedom and was able to travel around Italy again in the last few years of his life, his health started to decline. Tasso died in Rome in 1595 when he was just about to be crowned poet laureate by Pope Clement VIII. He was 51 years of age.

Statue of poet in Piazza Tasso.

To find the house of Cornelia Tasso, leave Piazza Sant’Antonino and walk along Via Santa Maria delle Grazie, which runs parallel with Corso Italia. Continue in a straight line along Via dell’Accademia until it becomes Vico San Nicola. The house of Cornelia Tasso can be found on the right hand side.

Sorrento’s main square, Piazza Tasso was later named after the poet and there is a statue of him there.

Piazza Tasso is the hub of Sorrento, in the middle of the main shopping street, Corso Italia, and looking out over Marina Piccola, Sorrento’s port. Surrounded by bars and restaurants, the square has stops for the local buses and a taxi rank. It is also the resting place for the horses that pull the carriages that can be hired for sightseeing.

Tasso’s statue is set in a pretty little garden opposite Bar Ercolano.

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Sedile Dominova

Last surviving noble ‘seat’ in Campania

The Sedile Dominova is decorated
with colourful frescoes

In the historic centre of Sorrento, among all the shops, bars and restaurants, visitors will come across a gem of 14th century architecture known as Sedile Dominova, which used to be an ancient meeting place for the nobility.

It was a building where the important men of Sorrento would gather to discuss politics and make decisions about the affairs of the city and it is the last surviving Sedile (seat) in the whole of the Campania region. 

Sedile Dominova is on the corner of Via San Cesareo and Largo Padre Reginaldo Giuliani. It has an elegant loggia, open on two sides, decorated with colourful frescoes of Sorrento’s coat of arms and the heraldic symbols of the nobles who used the building, which have been faithfully restored over the centuries. The building is topped with a 17th century cupola tiled in green and yellow.

Members of the Workers Society
of Mutual Support playing cards

It was built between 1319 and 1344 for a faction of nobles who wished to break away from the group who used to meet at the Porta Seat. This was located on one side of what is now Piazza Tasso, only a few minutes walk away from where the new seat was built.

Hence the name Sedile Dominova, which translates as sedile (seat), domus (house) and nova (new).

The building is now used as the headquarters of a Workers Society of Mutual Support and you will see members of the society playing card games sitting at tables in the loggia overlooking Via San Cesareo. However, visitors are welcome to have a look round inside the building.

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Chiesa di San Francesco Sorrento

 Historic church in a stunning setting

The simple white façade of Chiesa di San Francesco next to Villa Comunale in Sorrento conceals an ancient church with a fascinating history. 

Sant’Antonino, the patron saint of Sorrento, founded a place of private worship there in the eighth century.

The old carved wooden entrance door. 

In the 14th century, Franciscan friars transformed it into a much bigger church and dedicated it to their founder, Saint Francis of Assisi.

The building, in Piazza San Francesco Saverio Gargiulo, was later renovated in the baroque style and embellished with stucco decorations.

The façade was updated in 1926 for the seventh centenary of the death of San Francesco but the beautifully carved 16th century wooden door was retained.

Inside, the church has a single aisle with three chapels on each side.

Among the treasures to be discovered are a wooden statue of San Francesco with Christ crucified, donated to the church by a local family in the XVII century, and a 1737 painting depicting San Francesco receiving the stigmata, by Antonio Gamba, a pupil of Francesco Solimena.

Some of the elements of the 14th century building were uncovered during later restoration work, such as two old frescos representing Sant’Antonio of Padua and San Giacomo.

The baroque interior of the church.

During the 14th century, municipal documents and the seal of the town, which was considered so valuable it was kept in a box that could be opened only with four different keys, were kept in the sacristy of the church.

Some ancient items were found during the 20th century restoration work and were given to the Correale Museum.

Next to the church is a campanile topped with an onion shaped dome and a door at the side of the church leads into the 14th century cloisters. These are considered to be one of Sorrento’s finest historic attractions and are often used for weddings and art exhibitions and concerts.

The cloisters are next to the Villa Comunale, gardens filled with trees and bougainvillea, well away from the main road and the traffic.

It is one of the most peaceful parts of Sorrento and the rectangular open area in the middle provides an ideal space for seating wedding guests or a concert audience.

The 14th century Cloisters of San Francesco.

The Villa Comunale has a terrace with a panoramic view over the bay of Naples making it a perfect backdrop for wedding photographs.

The cloisters are one of the oldest monuments in Sorrento that can still be visited today and represent a fusion of architectural styles as they feature two different types of arches.

Valley of the Mills

 Rare ferns now cover area that used to be full of life

Sorrento has many surprises and amazing sights, but the unusual Vallone dei Mulini (Valley of the Mills), only a short walk away from the main square, Piazza Tasso, has been captivating artists and photographers for more than 100 years. 

If you leave Piazza Tasso and walk up Via Fuorimura, past the bars and restaurants on either side, you will come to a deep gorge, close to the Hotel Plaza, that you can view from the road above. 

Ruins of the old mill

The Valley of the Mills is an astonishing, natural phenomenon caused by a volcanic eruption about 35,000 years ago.

The valley gets its name from an ancient wheat mill that once provided the entire area with its wheat requirements and was still working in the early 1900s. You can see the ruins of the mill, now partially covered with vegetation.

Because many artists have painted pictures of the abandoned valley and photographers have captured it from every angle it is known what it would have looked like in the last century.

The springs and stream that fed into the valley also worked a saw mill that provided artisans and carpenters with cherry, walnut and olive wood to work on.

Local woman would bring their laundry to wash in the public wash tubs there and the valley was once full of life, as can be seen in some of the old paintings.

Valley seen from the road above

When Piazza Tasso was built in 1866 the valley was cut off from Marina Piccola, which it used to join up with, and was gradually abandoned by people. The only access to the valley now is through an old gate.

Blocking the valley’s access to the sea has created a humid microclimate in which plants have thrived, in particular a rare type of fern.

The atmospheric ruins and the lush vegetation seen from above now provide unusual holiday photographs for visitors to take back with them.

Sant’Agnello

 Popular resort just a short walk from Sorrento

The small resort of Sant’Agnello, just outside Sorrento in the direction of Naples, is very popular with visitors. Many holidaymakers like to base themselves there and visit Sorrento during the day, returning to its peaceful atmosphere in the evenings.

You can reach Sant’Agnello from Sorrento by walking along Corso Italia, passing Piazza Lauro and Viale Nizza, until you reach Piazza Sant’Agnello. You will see the yellow-painted façade of the Chiesa Santi Prisco ed Agnello, dedicated to San Prisco, a fifth century bishop from Nocera in Campania, and Sant’Agnello, a sixth century monk from Naples, who is now the patron saint of the town.

Church dedicated to Sant'Agnello's patron saint

You can also reach Sant’Agnello by leaving Sorrento along Via Correale, passing the Museo Correale di Terranova, and turning right along Via Aniello Califano. You pass the Church of Santa Maria della Rotonda and then join Via Bernardino Rota. After you pass the Grand Hotel Cocumella you can descend to the beach of Marinella, where you can hire sun loungers and enjoy the beautiful view over the bay of Naples.

Sant’Agnello was made famous by the American novelist, Francis Marion Crawford, who was born in 1854 in Bagni di Lucca in Tuscany.

A prolific novelist, Crawford became known for the vividness of his characterisations and the realism of his settings, many of which were places he had visited in Italy.

He chose to settle in later life in Sant’Agnello, where he even had a street named after him, Corso Marion Crawford, which is another way to get down to the sea from Corso Italia.

In 1883 Crawford lived at the Hotel Cocumella in Sant’Agnello, the oldest hotel in the Sorrento area. He then bought a farmhouse nearby, from which he developed the Villa Crawford, an impressive clifftop residence that is easily identifiable from the sea.

Crawford died at the Villa Crawford after suffering a heart attack in 1909. The villa, which was donated to a religious order by his descendants, has since been refurbished as a guesthouse.

The Hotel Cocumella, where Crawford stayed during the 1880s, is in Via Cocumella, just off Corso Marion Crawford. Over the centuries it has welcomed writers such as Goethe, Mary Shelley and Hans Christian Anderson, along with many artists, statesmen and noblemen who visited it while they were on the Grand Tour.

Chiesa dell’Annunziata Sorrento

Art treasures lie behind simple facade 

The imposing Chiesa dell’Annunziata is up a short flight of steps from Piazza Veniero, off Via Fuoro in the centre of Sorrento.

The stone-fronted church has ancient origins but the exact date it was founded is not known. It is thought to have been built at some time during the 12th century on the site of an ancient temple, which had been dedicated to the goddess Cybele. A first century altar once discovered in the church is now in the Museo Correale in Sorrento.

The facade of the Chiesa dell'Annunziata in Piazza Veniero,
just off Via Fuoro in the centre of Sorrento

Highlights of the many works of art inside the church include a 17th century wooden crucifix and an 18th century painting of the Madonna and Child by Filippo Andreoli, which is in the centre of the ceiling.

Above the decorative main altar in a niche is a 17th century statue of the Madonna della Consolazione.

A canvas by Paolo De Maio, signed and dated 1741, depicts the Annunciation, the event in the Bible after which the church is named, when the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit to be called Jesus.

The church also has many beautiful works by artists from the 18th century Neapolitan school of painting.

The six side altars belonged to different Sorrento families who at one time had the right to be buried in the church.

In the 14th century there was a monastery attached to the church and Augustinian friars from it would officiate at the services. The friars handed the church over to its congregation in the 19th century.

The church is a short walk from Piazza Tasso along Via San Cesareo and Via Fuoro until you reach Vico il Fuoro, after which you turn into Piazza Veniero.

It is well worth a look inside and is open to visitors from 7.30 to 11.00 and from 18.00 to 20.00.

Sorrento Cathedral bell tower - Il Campanile

Ancient columns still support old Sorrento meeting place

Standing three storeys higher than the other building nearby, the Cathedral’s Bell Tower is a landmark in Sorrento.

The red and yellow stone of the tower can be seen from many street corners in the historic centre of the town and also from points along the Via del Capo and the Via Nastro Verde out along the Sorrentine peninsula.

Cathedral's bell tower

The two lower storeys of the tower probably date back to the 11th century when the Duomo was originally built. But the three upper storeys were added in the 15th century, when the Duomo, which is dedicated to San Filippo and San Giacomo, was rebuilt in Romanesque style.

The bell tower was later given a decorative, blue majolica clock.

From very early in Sorrento’s history, the bell tower has played an important part. The ground floor space under the archway from Via Pietà was used as a meeting place by the people of Sorrento in medieval times. Later, a castle was built in the open space that we now see in Piazza Tasso, and the people used to congregate there for meetings.

Although the castle was demolished a long time ago, the columns that still hold up the bell tower at ground floor level are believed to be a collection of old Roman columns or early Byzantine columns.

Ancient columns support campanile

Therefore, the base of the bell tower existed very early on in Sorrento’s history, long before the Duomo was built and the popular seaside resort that we know today, grew up around it.

Casa Correale Sorrento

Grand house has stunning tiled courtyard

One of the finest collections of old majolica tiles in Sorrento can be seen in Casa Correale, an 18th century mansion in Piazza Tasso that is now being used as a shop.

The tiled wall of the inner courtyard

The friendly staff working in the sales outlet for Fattoria Terranova are happy for visitors to go inside to view the stunning wall decorated with majolica tiles in the courtyard of the house.

Although the Correale family are believed to have owned a house on this site in the 15th century, the current mansion, on the corner of Piazza Tasso and Via Pietà dates from the middle of the 18th century.

The elegant doorway is constructed of local stone and you can go through a passageway into a courtyard to see an old majolica tiled mural depicting architectural and agricultural scenes, believed to be the work of craftsmen from Chiaia in Naples.

The date of 1768 above the entrance door refers to the time the original house was transformed into the elegant residence we see today.

The entrance from Piazza Tasso

The shop sells olives, oils, herbs and liqueurs produced at Fattoria Terranova in Via Pontone in Sant’Agata su Due Golfi, a town outside Sorrento along the peninsula.

The land was given to the Correale family for them to farm by Neapolitan Queen Joanna of Anjou in the 15th century. They employed local people to do the work and a descendant of one of those families, Claudio Ruoppo, now runs the business with the support of his wife and children. For more information visit www.fattoriaterranova.it 

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Sedile di Porta

Sorrento’s first meeting place for noble families

When you walk through the streets of Sorrento you will see reminders of the town’s history wherever you look.

In the busy main square, Piazza Tasso, there is a plaque commemorating the spot where the noble families used to meet to deal with the administrative affairs of the town in the 16th century.

The plaque commemorating the spot where
 Sorrento's noble families used to meet

Near the corner where Piazza Tasso joins Via San Cesareo there is a reminder that the old Sedile di Porta, the Porta Seat, used to be located there.

It was named Sedile di Porta because it was built close to the main gate of the town, the Porta, in what used to be Largo del Castello, Castle Square. Its emblem was a door with three keys on a gold background.

After the meeting places for nobility were abolished, the building was turned into a prison and it later became a guard house for the urban militia.

It is now the home of a private club, the Circolo Sorrentino.

Under the rule of the House of Anjou, Sorrento was administered by noble families appointed by the King of Naples.

Some noble families broke away from Sedile de Porta after disagreements about the administration of the town and founded a seat of their own, Sedile Dominova, which still stands on the corner of Via San Cesareo and Largo Padre Reginaldo Giuliani.

Porta seat is now the home of Circolo Sorrentini

This beautiful building became the headquarters of the Societa Operaia per il Mutuo Soccorso, a Mutual Aid Society for Workers, in 1877. You will see gentlemen playing cards against the backdrop of frescos in the open air loggia at the front when you go past.

Sedile Dominova in Sorrento is now considered to be the best preserved seat of the nobility still standing in southern Italy.

Chiesa dell’Addolarata

Architectural gem behind simple wooden door

The interior of the church

Just off busy Via San Cesareo in the heart of Sorrento, the beautiful Baroque Church of Our Lady of Sorrows houses many art treasures.

Built by the leading, noble families of Sorrento, the church was completed in 1739.

The pink painted internal walls are decorated with white plasterwork and the brick floor still has some of its original majolica tiles, which were decorated with floral designs.

The wooden statue of the Madonna

The most striking feature in the church is the wooden statue of the Madonna. It is displayed in a niche that is protected behind glass above the main altar. The Madonna is wearing a dark coloured, gold trimmed gown and a gold crown and she is holding a white handkerchief, as a manifestation of her grief after the crucifixion of Christ.

To the left of the ornate main altar, which is topped with gold candlesticks, is a wooden sculpture of Christ on the Cross.

Baroque detail over the door

There are paintings by the 18th century artist, Carlo Amalfi, of The Holy Family and the Holy Trinity in Glory, and also many fine examples of religious paintings in inlaid wood.

These include contemporary works by Giuseppe Rocco, completed in 2013, of the Nativity and the Crucifixion.

The Chiesa dell’Addolarata, which is at No. 47 Via San Cesareo, can be discovered  behind a simple wooden door with decorative stonework above it that is typical of the Baroque period.

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Porta Marina Grande – the Greek Gate

Sorrento’s architectural gem

The oldest surviving example of Greek architecture in Sorrento is Porta Marina Grande, usually known as the Greek Gate, which has hardly changed since it was built there by the Greeks when they ruled Sorrento in the fourth century BC.

Sorrento's Greek Gate, built in the fourth century BC, is
also known as Porta Marina Grande

Originally, the gate would have been under a tower and when it was built it probably provided the only access to the city from the sea. Together with a gate built later at Marina Piccola, which no longer stands, it would have been the only outlet for trade with neighbouring cities before the Roman era.

The Greek Gate was incorporated into the 16th century walls built to protect Sorrento from pirates but, sadly, it was the way by which Turkish pirates entered the city on 13 June 1558 when, according to legend, the gate was opened to them by a slave working for the Correale family.

The gate was built in regular rows of blocks of stones and has two archways. You enter through the first and exit through the second archway to walk down the steps into Marina Grande.

The gate blends perfectly with the walls on either side of it and the traditional fishermen’s houses. When you emerge from the passageway into the sunshine you will have a stunning view of the sea and the beach of Marina Grande

The passage through the walls at the Greek Gate opens
on to a view of fishing boats bobbing on the sea

Somewhat confusingly, it is Marina Piccola - the 'small' marina - where large boats dock and hydrofoils from Naples, Ischia, Capri, Positano and Amalfi arrive and depart.

Marina Grande - the 'big' marina - has the feel of a small fishing village that has remained unspoilt over the years and is well worth a visit as there are plenty of restaurants that serve fresh fish.

When you reach the beach you will be greeted by the sight of brightly painted bathing huts along a platform over the sea and lines of small fishing boats and pleasure boats on the beach.

You may even see fishermen among them mending their nets as fishing by traditional methods is still an important part of Sorrento ’s economy.

There are also a few shops, bars and restaurants at Marina Grande but, despite receiving many visitors, there is a homely atmosphere where everyone knows everyone else because the same families have lived there for generations.

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