Things to see in Sorrento

 

 

 

 

 

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Things to see in Sorrento                               (Back to Sorrento main information page)

Basilica of Saint Antonino (year 1000): Dedicated to the Patron, it was built with a typical basilica structure, with a nave and two aisles. It was restored between the XVIII and the XIX centuries.

The interior consists of paintings of XV century, fragments of an ancient majolica tiled floor and a remarkable example of Neapolitan crib of XVII century, which was attributed to the Sammartino School with statues dressed up with clothes realized in precious fabrics and enriched with precious laces.

In a crypt below is located Saint Antonino? s grave, a Saint known for its spiritual connection with the sea and its inhabitants.

Cathedral: Mainly made of intarsia wood, the cathedral overlooks the main street of the town, Corso Italia and. The church is also known because there was baptized Torquato Tasso. It was built at the beginning of the XV century with a romantic style and restored several times and contains a great number of paintings of the Neapolitan School of the eighteenth century and is characterized also by a grand campanile.

Sedil Dominova: Built around 1450 and perfectly preserved, has been the location where representatives of the local nobles met to discuss matters related to the political and administrative life of the city.

The open lounge is surmounted by arches with a square base, closed on the two sides by two balustrades and a majolica tiled dome of the seventeenth century.

Very interesting are the frescos of the seventeenth century representing the architectonic perspectives. The inner small lounge preserved the marble inscriptions which are now at the museum Correale di Terranova in Sorrento. In the area opposite Sedile Dominova stayed a small fountain that gave the name ?Schizzariello? (small squirt of water) to the square

Covent di San Francesco: It is formed by three buildings: the church, the convent and the very famous cloister. The church was built in the XVI century in a Baroque style, with a front in white marble built in 1926. It preserves important works in wood, representing Saint Francis. Next to the church we find a magnificent cloister of the fourteenth century still inhabited by Franciscan friars.
The building has a rich variety of architectonic styles melted together to form one work, an ideal setting of the art exhibitions, festivals, concerts and events
.

Marina Grande. You can reach this place through a road that goes downhill, with large steps. Marina Grande preserves the typical Greek structure and it is dated around the IV century B.C. From this gate entered the Turkish pirates who sacked Sorrento in 1558. Beyond the gate there is a typical fishing village, a fusion of Moorish architecture and local style.

Picturesque houses, built in the volcanic cliff, are still inhabited. On this beach, in a shipyard under the open sky were built the famous ?Sorrento fishing boats?, a typical wooden boat with a sail, long from 6 to 12 meters, easy to handle and unsinkable. The mastery skill of Sorrento artisans was so great that the typical fishing boats were used by all fishermen of the Gulf of Naples and nearby islands.

Correale Museum: Wanted by two brothers, Alfredo and Pompeo Correale, the last descendants of an old and aristocratic family of Sorrento it provides a magnificent art collection. Walking along the rooms of this splendid residence you can admire precious furniture, European and eastern porcelains and rare Neapolitan and foreign paintings. The building is distributed on three floors, with a total of twenty four rooms. It also preserves an interesting collection of European clocks and one of the most prestigious collections of Chinese, European and Neapolitan porcelains of the XVIII century.

The museum ?workshop of Wood intarsia: Located in the old town, in a palace of the eighteenth century, it presents fresco vaults and ceilings faced with hand painted wallpapers, a rich collection of furniture and objects made by the inlayer masters of Sorrento for all the XIX century. The display highlights technical and decorative aspects of the schools artisan workshops. The adjacent display of paintings of Italian and foreign artists, of vintage photos and prints, allows to reconstruct the nineteenth century image of the Sorrento coast and of the historical and environmental context in which the local production of intarsia developed.

Sorrento Cape. Halfway between Sorrento and Massa Lubrense, we can see the Regina Giovanna Beaches and the archaeological site of the villa of Pollio Felice. To reach this area you have to go along a narrow street, shaded by olive and orange trees, with the walls covered by ivy. The cliff is named after the Queen Giovanna Durazzo d?Angi? Behind the top of the hill there are remains of a great Roman villa, belonging to the patrician Pollio Felice, built at the time of the emperor Domiziano (81-96 A.D.). Further down, we reach the ?Solara?, a summer destination of hundred bathers.

Marina Puolo. A picturesque seaside village, it counts today about 150 inhabitants and a territory divided into Sorrento and Massa Lubrense. Nature reserves Punta Campanella, a protected area notable for its biodiversity. An old sighting tower of pirates rises above the village located behind the big beach. The name ?Puolo? derives from a distortion of the Latin Pollius, name of the Roman patrician Pollius Felix, owner of a closed by magnificent villa. Puolo area is involved with a Tourist protection project.

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