t Colourful villas spilling down the hillside to the sea in Positano
t Colourful villas spilling down the hillside to the sea in Positano
Experience Campania
Set beneath the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, Campania is a region of dramatic contrasts. The hinterland, home to rich, well-cultivated plains, is eclipsed by the Amalfi coastline with its breathtaking views and the spectacular Cilento seaboard. The mountainous interior, remote and unvisited, contains small towns that were settled by the Greeks, developed by the Romans and often abandoned in the wake of malaria and Saracen attacks. Elsewhere, extraordinary Roman towns and Greek ruins, preserved by a blanket of volcanic ash, reveal the area’s ancient history.
Campania was first settled by the Etruscans and the Greeks, whose massive ruins can be seen at Paestum. Next came a time of great prosperity under the Romans; archaeological evidence of which still exists at Benevento, Santa Maria Capua Vetere and, of course, Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Today, a visit to Pompeii is a high priority for tourists, but this was not always so. Travellers on the Grand Tour in the 1600s and early 1700s preferred the volcanic phenomena of the Solfatara crater and the Phlegraean Fields to the west of Campania. Only when the first archaeological digs unearthed the remains of Paestum and the buried cities around Mount Vesuvius did a tour of the ancient ruins become popular.
The beautiful colour, light and atmosphere found on the islands of Capri and Ischia, and on the Sorrento Peninsula, began to interest landscape painters in the 19th century. The southern flank of the peninsula – the Amalfi coast – remained isolated until the mid-1960s, when it attracted visitors in search of an alternative, remote lifestyle. Ironically, the area has since become a popular holiday spot.