ravello
 
The best views of the coast can be had inland from Amalfi in RAVELLO : another renowned spot, "closer to the sky than the seashore", wrote André Gide - with some justification. Ravello was also an independent republic for a while, and for a time an outpost of the Amalfi city-state; now it's not much more than a large village, but its unrivalled location, spread across the top of one of the coast's mountains, 335m up, makes it more than worth the thirty-minute bus ride up from Amalfi - although, like most of this coast, the charms of Ravello haven't been recently discovered. Wagner based part of Parsifal , one of his last operas, on the place; D.H. Lawrence wrote some of Lady Chatterley's Lover here; John Huston filmed his languid movie Beat the Devil in town (a film in which the locations easily outshine the plot); and Gore Vidal is just one of the best known of many celebrities who spend at least part of the year here.

The town
Buses drop off on the main Piazza Vescovado , outside the Duomo : a bright eleventh-century church, renovated in 1786, that's dedicated to St Pantaleone, a fourth-century saint whose blood - kept in a chapel on the left-hand side - is supposed to liquefy like Naples' San Gennaro once a year on July 27. It's a richly decorated church, with a pair of bronze doors, twelfth century, cast with 54 scenes of the Passion; inside, attention focuses on a monumental ambo of 1272, adorned with mosaics of dragons and birds on spiral columns supported by roaring lions, and with the coat of arms and the vivacious profiles of the Rufolo family, the donors, on each side. The superb bust, downstairs in the crypt, is also said to be a portrait of Signor Rufolo, alongside a collection of mosaics and reliquaries from the same era.

The Rufolos figure again on the other side of the square, where various leftovers of their Villa Rufolo (daily: June-Sept 9.30am-1pm & 3-7pm; Oct-May 9.30am-1pm & 3-5pm; L4000/¬2.07) scatter among rich gardens overlooking the precipitous coastline; this is the spectacular main venue for concerts held during the prestigious Ravello music festival in July. If the crowds put you off - and you certainly won't be alone here - turn left by the entrance and walk up the steps over the tunnel for the best (free) view over the shore, from where it's a pleasant stroll through the back end of Ravello to the main square. Failing that, walk in the opposite direction to the Villa Cimbrone (daily 9am-sunset; L5000/¬2.58), ten minutes away, whose formal gardens spread across the furthest tip of Ravello's ridge. Most of the villa itself, once frequented by the Bloomsbury Group, is not open to visitors, though it's worth peeking into the crumbly, flower-hung cloister as you go in and the open crypt down the steps from here - probably the only crypt with views over cliffs and open sea. But the gardens are entirely accessible, dotted with statues and leading down to what must be the most gorgeous spot in Ravello - a belvedere that looks down to Atrani below and the sea beyond