centro storico, costiero, Sorrento

In a region of vertiginous coasts and deep gorges, where the Lattari mountains meet the brilliant blue of the Gulf of Naples, Sorrento is a town whose fame as a seaside resort long ago outgrew its national borders. Its economy, once reliant on agriculture and fishing, now leans heavily on tourism, yet the old crafts of marquetry and cabinet-making still flourish. The historic centre, remarkably, still follows the orthogonal grid of its Greek and Roman foundations.

Sorrento’s past is a catalogue of occupiers: Syracusans, Samnites, and Romans, who built their holiday villas here. It then fell under Byzantine administration, before winning independence as a free duchy at the beginning of the 9th century. That independence was fiercely defended against rival Campanian cities, until Norman, Aragonese, and local lords eventually subdued it. The real urban development came in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the town we see today began to take shape, built on ancient bones.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.