Amalfi - Duomo di Amalfi

Amalfi is the main town of the coast on which it is located, named Costiera Amalfitana (Amalfi Coast), and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Today a town with a population of about 5000, Amalfi was a maritime power in the early days, when Amalfi traders enjoyed privileged positions in the Mediterranean ports. An independent republic from the 7th century until 1073, Amalfi extracted itself from Byzantine vassalage in 839, It rivaled Pisa and Genoa in its domestic prosperity and maritime importance before the rise of the Republic of Venice.

In 1073 Amalfi fell to the Norman countship of Apulia. Emperor Lothair, fighting in favor of Pope Innocent II against Roger, who sided with the Antipope Anacletus, took him prisoner in 1133, assisted by the Pisans who sacked the city. It was taken by the Pisans soon after and rapidly declined in importance. A tsunami in 1343 destroyed the port and lower town, and Amalfi never recovered to anything more than local importance.
The erection of the Amalfi Cathedral was begun in the 9th and 10th centuries. It has been added to and redecorated several times, overlaying Arab-Norman, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements, and finally a new 19th-century Norman-Arab-Byzantine facade.

The first church was built in the 9th century on the ruins of a previous temple. A second church was built in the 10th century. By the 12th century, the two churches formed a single 6-aisle Romanesque church, which was reduced to 5 in the 13th century to allow the construction of the cloister. The remains of St. Andrew were reportedly brought to Amalfi from Constantinople in 1206 during the Fourth Crusade. Two years later the crypt was completed and the relics were turned over to the church. The bell tower was constructed between the 12th and 13th centuries in front of the first church, topped by an elaborate crown decorated in the Arab-Norman style.

In 1861, part of the facade collapsed. The whole front of the church was then rebuilt in a decorated manner drawing on Italian Gothic and Arab-Norman styles.

An advantage of traveling in winter is that there are few other tourists, a disadvantage is that the buildings are sometimes closed for the winter. The cloister and museum do not reopen until April 1. We only peeped into the Chiostro Paradiso through a window.