Positano is an ancient Campania‘s fishing village located in the Sorrento peninsula, in the middle of the bay between Punta Germano and Capo Sottile, where the splendid Amalfi Coast begins. Called the Pearl of the Amalfi Coast (la Perla della Costiera Amalfitana), Positano is an elegant and famous holiday destination able to seduce and transmit evocative emotions to its visitors. Its inhabited area develops vertically, perched on the Lattari Mountains, thanks to the terracings where the houses lean against each other and tumbling vertiginously down towards the sea. Impossible not to be charmed by this village suspended between sea and sky where the stairways replace the streets. From the sea you have the most suggestive view of Positano and its enchanting colors: the white, pink and yellow of its mediterranean houses, the green of the surrounding mountains, the silver of its beaches and the cobalt blue of its sea.

Legend has it that on the islands of the Li Galli archipelago, located in front of Positano, reside the mythical and bewitching mermaids (from latin “sirena“). Precisely for this reason the three islands of Gallo Lungo, Rotonda and Castelluccio are called the “Sirenuse“. Since ancient times there were in fact numerous shipwrecks in this stretch of coast, shipwrecks attributed to the song of these mythological beings half woman and half fish.
And from another legend comes the name of Positano. This legend tells of a Turkish ship that in the XXII century was carrying the painting of Black Madonna. Because of a total absence of wind, the ship is in this stretch of sea unable to resume navigation. It was then that the sailors heard a voice coming from the painting of the Madonna and saying “posa, posa” that is “stop there“. The captain thus brought the ship to the beach in front and the painting was transported to the church of San Vito. The next morning the picture had mysteriously disappeared and was later found on a tree of “mortella” (blueberries) by the sea. The icon of the Black Madonna was thus given to the natives who erected the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in the place of discovery, which still today, with its colorful majolica dome, houses the icon received as a gift. The origin of the name Positano is attributed to this episode and to the whisper of the Madonna (“POSA, POSA“).
Instead, historical reasons attribute the name of Positano to the term Passata (“village of the pass“, Italian: “borgo del passo“) because it can only be reached from the Montepertuso Pass. From here it evolves into Passitano and subsequently Positano.

Positano was considered a holiday resort since the days of ancient Rome. Here there were splendid villas of which a precious archaeological evidence was found near the Church of Santa Maria Assunta. Here there are other historical testimonies constituted by the watch towers that were built during the period when the coast was subject to the Saracen raids.

Positano is today a dream landscape, endowed with a wild and famous beauty not only in Italy but all over the world. An ideal place for the climate and the Dolce Vita, Positano has hosted celebrities from all over the world since the middle of the last century. At the Spiaggia Grande (Great Beach), which is the heart of the village, it is not unusual to come across artists, intellectuals, actors and VIPs who come here from every part of the planet. From the past we remember the images of Lyz Taylor and Richard Burton, as well as the stays of Jacky Kennedy, Picasso, Zeffirelli, Nureyev or Madonna just to name a few.

The local craftsmanship is also famous in Positano: linen dresses and trousers made by skilled hands, as well as handmade sandals are produced that can be purchased in local shops.