ENGLISH * AMALFI
AS
IF TO REASSURE US, AMALFI APPEARS.
THIS WAS THE FIRST OF THE MARITIME REPUBLICS, AND, AS SUCH, IT HAD A GLORIOUS
HISTORY. IN COMPARISION WITH THE VERY ANCIENT CITIES OF CAMPANIA, IT WAS FOUNDED
RATHER LATE, PERHAPS IN ABOUT THE FOURTH CENTURY AFTER CHRIST. YET AMALFI
FLOURISHED WHILE THE OTHER TOWNS WERE IN DECLINE. THE INHABITANTS WERE EXPERT
SAILORS AND BUILT UP AN EXENSIVE TRADE WITH THE EAST, FOUNDING CHURCHES AND
HOSPITALS EVERYWHERE, AND MAKING THEIR TOWN THE RICHEST IN THE SOUTH OF ITALY.
THE AMALFI FLEET, TOGETHER WITH ONE FROM NAPLES AND FROM GAETA, DEFEATED THE
SARACENS WHO WERE ABOUT TO LAUNCH AN ATTACK ON ROME IN 849. THE ELEVENTH CENTURY
SAW THE TOWN AT THE PINNACLE OF ITS GREATNESS. IN ITS DOCKYARDS, SHIPS WERE
BUILT, ALSO FOR OTHER COUNTRIES; IT MINTED ITS OWN MONEY; AND IT HAD ITS OWN
MARITIME LAWS, THE CELEBRATED "TABULAE AMALPHITANE", WHICH ARE KEPT TODAY
IN THE TOWN'S MUSEUM. ITS SAILORS WERE THE FIRST TO USE THE COMPASS ( THE
INVENTION OF WHICH HAS BEEN ASCRIBED TO FLAVIO GIOIA ). THE FOUNDER OF THE
ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM ALSO CAME FROM AMALFI. HOWEVER, IT WAS DEFEATED
BY PISA, AND THE FIRST MARITIME REPUBLIC TO RISE WAS ALSO THE FIRST TO FALL
INTO DECLINE. IT BECAME PART OF THE PRINCIPALITY OF SALERNO; IT LOST AND REGAINED
ITS INDEPENDENCE UNDER THE NORMANS, ONLY TO LOSE IT AGAIN DEFINITIVELY UNDER
THE NORMAN ROGER II. AFTER BELONGING TO A SUCCESSION OF DIFFERENT LORDS, IT
WAS THEN ENFEOFFED TO THE ARAGONESE, WITH A SUBSEQUENT HISTORY SIMILAR TO
THAT OF OTHER CAMPANIAN TOWNS.
HOWEVER, THE CATHEDRAL, AT THE TOP OF ITS GREAT FLIGHT OF STEPS, REMAINS TO
TESTIFY TO THE TOWN'S ANCIENT GLORY. IT IS DEDICATED TO ST. ANDREW. A THREE
AISLED BASILICA PREVIOUSLY OCCUPIED THE SITE.
THE FACADE, DECORATED WITH POLYCHROME MARBLE, IS IMPRESSIVE, ALTHOUGH WHAT
WE CAN SEE TODAY IS A LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY RESTORATION, SINCE THE ORIGINAL
COLLAPSED IN AN EARTHQUAKE. THE BELLTOWER WAS SPARED, THOUGH: WE CAN SEE IT
IN FRONT OF US, WITH ITS PATTERN OF TWO LIGHT AND THREE LIGHT WINDOWS. IN
THE PORCH, THE MAIN DOORWAY HAS A MAGNIFICIENT BRONZE DOOR, CAST IN COSTANTINOPLE
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. THE GROUNDPLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL IS
A LATIN CROSS. DESPITE THE BAROQUE ADDITIONS TO THE INTERIOR, THE MONOLITHIC
COLUMNS SUPPORTING THE ROOF ARE UNTOUCHED, AS IS THE BASIC NORMAN SARACENIC
DESIGN. THE FONT IS CARVED IN RED EGYPTIAN PORPHYRY.
IN THE THIRTEETH CENTURY CRYPT, THERE IS A HUGE STATUE OF ST. ANDREW BY MICHELANGELO
NACCHERINO, AND TWO STATUES OF ST. STEPHEN AND ST. LAWRENCE BY PIETRO BERNINI.
ATTACHED TO THE CATHEDRAL IS THE SO CALLED "CLOISTER OF PARADISE", PRECEDED
BY A PASSAGEWAY DECORATED WITH FRESCOES BY PIETRO CAVALLINI, AND WITH ITS
ARCHES RESTING ON PAIRED COLUMNS. SARCOPHAGI AND ROMAN AND MEDIEVAL "OBJETS
D'ART" ARE KEPT HERE. THE OTHER TOWER WE CAN SEE, BUILT AT THE SAME TIME AS
THE CATHEDRAL BELLTOWER, IS NOW AN ANNEXE TO A HOTEL WHICH OCCUPIES THE OLD
TWELFTH CENTURY MONASTERY, WHOSE BEAUTIFUL PORTICO STILL SURVIVES. HENRIK
IBSEN WROTE A DOLL'S HOUSE HERE IN 1879. FROM OUR ALTITUDE, WE CANNOT ADMIRE
THE OLD SHIPYARDS OF THE REPUBLIC, IN WHICH THE LARGEST GALLEYS OF THE ELEVNTH
CENTURY WERE BUILT, BUT AT GROUND LEVEL THE MASSIVE POINTED ARCHES ARE VERY
IMPRESSIVE.
