Amalfi, Italy

Amalfi Occupying the southern side of the Sorrento peninsula, the Amalfi coast lays claim to be Italy's most beautiful stretch of coast. Don't miss its corniche road winding around the towering cliffs – an incredible ride. The most famous location along this coastline is possibly Positano with its pyramid high above the water, that has inspired a thousand picture postcards. But for food and accommodation we do recommend the more unexpensive and bigger town of Amalfi, an established seaside resort since Edwardian times, when the British upper class spent their winters here. Once an independant republic in Byzantine times, Amalfi was one of the four great naval powers (others were Genoa, Venice and Pisa) with a population of some seventy thousand. Vanquished by the Normans in 1131, it was devastated by an earthquake in 1343. A few remnants of its past glories survived suc has the Duomo. Today Amalfi survives as a fanciful and mollified town, attracting passive lingerers who stroll along the beautiful bayside promenades.