Maiori e Minori

Maiori was founded in the 9th century by the Prince Sicardo from Salerno with the name "Reginna Major" to distinguish it from the near village of Minori,  called "Reginna Minor".
It's a tourist resort and a picturesque fishermen's village,  5 kilometres from Amalfi.
These names derive from two rivers  "Reginna2, one smaller and the other bigger,  flowing in this area. Successively the two rivers continued to be called Regina and Reginella and the two villages took the name of "Maiuri" and "Minuri".
Maiori, located on a beautiful plane,  borders in the north on Tramonti,  in the west on the valley Valle Arsiccia, in the east on Minori  and in the south on the sea.
In ancient times it was defended and surrounded by walls and towers built in the 9th century and  today is still possible to see the ruins.
Maiori followed the same history of Amalfi which took it under its protection.
Maiori had a flourishing commercial fleet and was practically decimated by the plague of 1656,  when its population was reduced to 700 men.
Its centre was seriously damaged by a terrible flood on the 26th October 1954, when many buildings crumbled.
Worth to see: on the Ponticchio hill the ruins of the castle of "San Nicola", built under the Piccolomini family in 1468; the church of "Santa Maria a mare"  built in the 14th century with its beautiful majolica dome standing out over the village; the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie; the cave of Annunziata.
The other small tourist and holiday resort of the coast of Amalfi is located in the inner part of a bay of the gulf of Salerno,  between the cape Capo d'Orso and the promontory of Amalfi,  at a distance of 2 kilometres from Maiori.
Also Minori was part in the Middle Ages of the Republic of Amalfi; in 987 it became a  bishop's see.  The village was seriously damaged by a heavy seaquake in 1343 which destroyed most of the buildings.
Interesting are the ruins of a Roman Villa from the 1st century discovered in several excavations.  Inside an "Antiquarium"has been realized,  which keeps findings from other Roman villas of the area.