Ravello

Ravello rises in a high and particularly fortunate and suggestive position;
Between the two valleys of  Valle del Dragone and Valle del Reginna  at a distance of 27 kilometres from Salerno it can be reached by a street of great beauty and is placed in  one of the points with the largest view over the Gulf.
Far away from exasperated worldliness and full of an atmosphere of intellectual refinement,  the place always fascinated everyone who stayed there,  like Wagner,  Boccaccio and Grieg.
Tradition tells that it was founded by the Roans in the 6th century during the second Gothic war; it was in possession  of the Republic of Amalfi.
Its name seems to come from the hill occupied by the Romans and called "Torello".  It was bishop's see from 1086 and  was united under Pope Clemens VIII in 1063 with the village of Scala. In 1084 it was cancelled and  included in the diocese of Amalfi under Pius VII.
During the first sack of Amalfi by Pisa,  the 6thof August 1135,  the Castle of Fratta resisted long enough to reach and defeat the invaders.
Pisa's troops took revenge in July 1137 devastating it dreadfully for three days.
Ravello remained successively part of the dukedom of Amalfi,  dividing its history during its autonomy and even when it became a feud.
After the heavy attack inflicted by the people of Pisa,  the town progressively emptied and knew a period of decay.
The town was known for its dye works to the extend and in 1294 Carlo II granted the people of Ravello the exclusive right  for that industry.
All the production of cotton,  wool and fustian of the dukedom of Amalfi was done in the factories of Ravello.
But the dye-works industry began to loose its importance from the 15th century on and successively it disappeared completely.
Famous also for its wine,  Ravello has many treasures of art and monuments worth to visit.
Wonderful is "Villa Rufolo", an interesting group of buildings with Arabian influence,  surrounded by marvellous panoramic gardens, built from the second half of the 13th century on by the noble family Rufolo.
Worth to see furthermore the Cathedral,  built in 1086 by the first bishop of Ravello, Orso Papirio; "Villa Cimbrone" is a whole of different buildings, built at the  beginning for defence and successively embellished by civil works and by a wonderful garden; "the Church of S.Giovanni del Toro" from the 11th century and the Church of "Santa Maria a Gradillo" from the 12th century.