Destinations · Campania
Ravello the city of music
350 metres above the sea, among villas and gardens that inspired Wagner: the most elegant balcony on the Amalfi Coast.
The merchant families
In the Middle Ages Ravello was a wealthy town tied to the Republic of Amalfi: merchant families such as the Rufolo traded with the East and built palaces with courtyards and gardens in the Arab style.
The Cathedral of San Pantaleone was founded in 1086; its bronze door, dating from 1179, is the work of Barisano da Trani. After trade declined the town emptied, until travellers on the Grand Tour discovered it in the nineteenth century.
Klingsor’s garden
In 1880 Richard Wagner visited Villa Rufolo and recognised in it Klingsor’s magic garden from his Parsifal. That memory gave rise to the Ravello Festival, with concerts on a stage suspended over the sea.
Villa Cimbrone, transformed in the early twentieth century by Lord Grimthorpe, offers the Terrace of Infinity, a balcony of marble busts over the void. In 2010 the Auditorium designed by Oscar Niemeyer was added.
Not to be missed in Ravello
Villa Rufolo
The towers, the Moorish cloister and the concert terrace.
Villa Cimbrone
The gardens and the Terrace of Infinity.
Cathedral of San Pantaleone
The bronze door and the mosaic pulpits.
Ravello Festival
Open-air concerts from June to September.
Niemeyer Auditorium
A white sail above the Dragone valley.
The path to Minori
Stairways through lemon groves down to the sea.
Before you go
The road climbs about 7 kilometres from Amalfi.
On the Amalfi Coast tour it’s the first stop, one hour.
With the Festival concerts at sunset.
It’s the route of the Amalfi Coast tour.
Ravello is explored on foot, without a car: the cathedral square is the ideal meeting point. Early in the morning the villas are almost empty and the light on the gulf is at its most beautiful.
Approximate times, without traffic.
Ravello as the first stop of your day on the Amalfi Coast.
Tolls and parking are always included. Carlo checks availability and replies within 24 hours.
