Surroundings

The remarkable cultural richness that Ravello conceals, the majestic radiance of its buildings and strongholds, the villas and the splendid panorama of the Amalfi Coast cannot fail to enchant the tourist, or even the simple traveller passing through this splendid town on the Coast, the first thing the visitor will certainly think of is the important history of the place, which still retains all the charm and grandeur of the past. Ravello was a place of residence for noble and important families and personalities, certainly since ancient Rome.
Ravello was an Episcopal seat from 1086 until 1818, and the Archbishop of Amalfi exempted it from all control. The cathedral is consecrated to Santa Maria Assunta and preserves the sacred remains of the blood of San Pantaleone. Just as in Naples for San Gennaro, so every year in Ravello too the miracle of the melting of the sacred blood takes place, which lasts for about a month, from his feast day of 27 July to the feast of the Holy Cross on 14 September. The bronze doors, dated 1179 and the work of Barisano da Trani, are famous. They are composed of 54 panels divided by tesserae decorated with arabesques. The pulpit, the work of 1272 by Nicola di Bartolomeo da Foggia, was erected at the behest of the Ravello nobleman Nicola Rufolo, opposite the ambo dell’Epistola, erected when the patrician Costantino Rogadeo (1094-1150) was bishop of Ravello. Also noteworthy is the imposing altarpiece depicting St Michael Archangel, painted in 1583 by Giovanni Angelo d’Amato of Maiori.
A museum has recently been set up in the crypt, containing the remains of the ciborium built by Matteo Rufolo, Nicola’s son, and subsequently demolished in 1773 by Bishop Michele Tafuri; the beautiful portico (demolished in 1786); the ancient relics of St. Barbara, St. Bartholomew, St. Thomas and the very fine bust of Sichelgaita Rufolo, Nicola’s wife, once placed on the entrance door of the Pulpit. Next to the church is a monumental bell tower from the 14th century. Authentic masterpieces of sacred art are also to be found in the church of San Giovanni del Toro, dating from the 11th to the 14th century, which preserves a pulpit of rare artistic value; the church of Santa Maria a Gradillo and the church and cloister of San Francesco, which houses the remains of Blessed Bonaventura da Potenza and some of his relics. Then the monastery of Santa Chiara and the church of San Pietro Apostolo alla Costa, with an imposing atrium. Testimony to the splendour achieved by its noble families are the d’Afflitto and Confalone palaces. The villas deserve a separate discussion. Villa Rufolo has preserved much of its former splendour, with its towers and part of the Moorish courtyard. Founded by Nicola Rufolo, the villa has hosted illustrious visitors and is still a major tourist attraction.
The Rufolo family entered into myth and was immortalised by Giovanni Boccaccio in his novella ‘The Decameron’ where he described the magnificence of the medieval Amalfi Coast and the maritime vicissitudes of Landolfo Rufolo. The villa passed from the Rufolos to the Confalones and then to the d’Afflittos, who sold it to Francis Neville Reid, who created an authentic garden of delights there, and it was no coincidence that when Richard Wagner, with his wife Cosima Liszt, visited the villa on 26 May 1880, while he was intent on writing Parsifal, he found there the image of Klingsor’s magical garden. Villa Cimbrone belonged to the patrician family of Acconciagioco, then to the Fusco family, to the Amici di Atrani family and finally to the second Lord Grimthorpe, who, with the help of the Ravellian Nicola Mansi, created a container of incomparable landscape enchantments, including the belvedere, the Gothic dining room and the spectacular villa ‘la Rondinaia’. Ravello is currently one of the most sought-after destinations for tourists, who alternate the sea with happy evenings full of cultural events, where they can enjoy the cool climate of its altitude on summer evenings, where the piazza and terraces after the first light of evening come alive and take on a special, ancient and mistrerious charm.