The name is said to come from Hercules who wanted to make the magnificent beach the last resting place of the graceful Amalfi, a nymph with eyes the colour of the sea... but perhaps it is only a legend in the classical manner, and it was probably the practical inhabitants of Scala who founded it in the VI century...

Independent State from 839 to 1096 A.D. it was the major commercial and military power in the high Tyrrhene, the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, united under the shield of silver with a red band an ample territory that included Gragnano, Agerola, Lettere and Tramonti inland.
Cetara and Positano on the coast and the isle of Capri with all the adjacent sea, calling Amalfitan all those who where within these boundaries. Joined together in political and military relations, for internal matters every "Universitas " kept its name and had ample administrative autonomy but also a specific role at the service of sister cities. A centre of production and a well equipped goods wharf , Amalfi was Capital and also the Archbishop's seat and of the central government at whose head succeeded Prefects, Comites and Judges, until Mastalo II in 954 A.D. established the Dukedom...

Between the XI and XII centuries at the height of her power the ships of Amalfi covered the sea from North Africa to the coasts of Syria and Palestine, as far as Asia Minor , establishing embassies and warehouses: in Alexandria of Egypt, in Tunis and Byzantium, at Jerusalem it opened a large hospital with a capacity of 1.000 beds, run by the friars "Ospedalieri di S: Giovanni "(later to become Order of the Cavaliers of Malta)...

In all these territories, the Tarì of Amalfi made of gold or bronze was legal tender. The "Tabulae Amalphitanae " , a nautical chart with the rules of navigation was used and also the Chinese compass and the Egyptian Astrolabio ; instruments practically unknown in the West ...The building style "Romanesque-Amalfitan " was born that added to the rigour of the western Romanesque style, elements of the Moorish and Byzantine culture...

The end of the XII century saw the decline , it was Guiscardo who set the law in the South of Italy, and the attempts of Amalfi to liberate herself caused the definite deposition of the Duke (1096)...This allowed the city of Pisa to sack the coast in1135 and (again in 1137) destroying every hope of a revival. Laid waste and defeated, with the hereditary feuds in the hands of rulers who came and went, Amalfi and her coast was reduced to a low level , small towns survived only because of agriculture and modest manufacturing activities: paper, woollen cloth and leather tanning... In the XVII and XVIII centuries producing pasta and lemons until the middle of the XIX century...

In the wake of romanticism and the Grand Tour, attracted by the wild, untouched nature and the local customs, and also the myths of Masaniello and Giovanna of Aragon, German and English Travellers discovered the coast and brought it a new lease of life...

The cultural avantgarde of those early times leads us to the appointment with the sixties, the years of the economic boom and the "Dolce Vita" (Sweet Life), that in the Summer bivouacs between Capri, Positano and Amalfi, actors ,producers, artists and adventurers people the Amalfi coast: love-affairs are born and also works of art...

In the footsteps of the V.I.P. there was an explosion of mass-tourism: a dream available for all...