Beneath Positano's church sits a Roman villa buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD, its frescoes only opened to visitors in 2018. Above it: majolica kilns, the ateliers that invented 1960s resort fashion, and a paper mill valley that supplied Europe for 600 years.
A Roman villa buried by the 79 AD eruption, excavated beneath the crypt of Santa Maria Assunta and opened in 2018. One frescoed triclinium wall survives in Fourth Style: sea creatures, masks, a winged hippocamp. Open daily 09:00–19:00 in summer.
The Amalfi Coast's oldest continuously run ceramic house, trading since 1949. Hand-painted Vietri-style majolica — lemon motifs, cockerels, the blue-and-yellow 'positanese' glaze — painted on site. Watch the brushwork at the back counter.
Positano's 18th-century upper church, reached by the Chiesa Nuova bus stop. The nave floor is a continuous majolica pavement of tiles laid in the 1700s, and the terrace gives the architectural read of the village that beach level cannot.
The best preserved of Positano's three 16th-century Saracen watchtowers, built under Spanish viceroys against Barbary raids. Privately owned, but the Via Positanesi d'America footpath cut into the cliff runs directly beneath its base.
A 13th-century paper mill in the Valley of the Mills, running its original hammer-driven macerator and a working hand press. Amalfi's bambagina paper supplied European chanceries for centuries. Guided visits every 30 minutes.
Open since 1830 and run by the same family for six generations, with the original wooden fittings intact. The delizia al limone was invented on this coast in the 1970s; here it comes with a lemon-leaf-scented cream.
The 13th-century Moorish-Norman villa whose cloister and cliff-edge belvedere Wagner declared Klingsor's magic garden in 1880. The Ravello Festival stage is built out over the drop; the gardens open 09:00–20:00 in summer.
Italy's oldest music festival, running since 1953, plays orchestral and chamber programmes from late June to August — some on the Rufolo belvedere, others in Niemeyer's white concrete shell finished in 2010.
Positano invented resort fashion in the late 1950s — loose linen, hand-crocheted lace, sandals cut to your foot. The Pasitea workshops still cut and sew on site rather than importing, and most will alter a piece within the hour.
One of the last Positano cobblers cutting made-to-measure sandals while you wait. You choose the leather straps and heel, they trace your foot on the bench and assemble it — the trade here dates to the 1950s Hollywood visitors.
The Path of the Gods along the ridge above Positano, linking the two hamlets whose stone terraces and lemon pergolas are the working culture the village below grew from. Montepertuso's pierced rock is visible the whole way.
A family farmhouse above Positano serving one fixed menu from its own terraces — no ordering, no à la carte, courses arrive until you stop them. Four generations of the De Lucia family have farmed this slope.