The majolica dome and the ceramic workshops
Vietri sul Mare, the first village of the Amalfi Coast coming from Salerno, is the capital of Campanian ceramics. Pottery has been made here since the Middle Ages, using the local clay, and the town is a riot of colour: façades, street signs, benches and shop fronts are decorated with majolica tiles in bright blue, yellow, green and orange, with motifs of lemons, fish, donkeys and seascapes.
The symbol of the town is the church of San Giovanni Battista, whose dome is covered with shining majolica tiles in yellow, green and blue, visible from far away. The streets of the centre are lined with dozens of workshops where you can watch the artisans shape and paint the pieces by hand. The most famous façade is that of the Solimene factory, designed in the 1950s by the architect Paolo Soleri, with a wall of terracotta vases. In the nearby hamlet of Raito, the Provincial Museum of Ceramics illustrates the history of this art, including the "German period" of the 1920s and 1930s, when foreign artists renewed its style.
Tip: many shops ship purchases home; below the town, the Marina di Vietri has a beach with the two rocks of the Due Fratelli.
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