Diapositiva 1

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A BRIEF GUIDE TO SORRENTO
Sorrento is located on a tuff coast and is
reflected in the Gulf of Naples, fascinating
tourists and visitors, attracted by breathtaking
views and landscapes. The town gives its name to
the Sorrento Peninsula, a great area extended
from Vico Equense to Massa Lubrense. This area,
thanks to its geographical shape, suspended
between the green hills and the blue of the seas,
is from the time immemorial a great attraction of
the southern Italy. The Sorrento coast is one of
the most popular destinations of the entire
Campania region. It is also the ideal destination
for Italian visitors and foreign tourists, that
want to plan excursions to Capri, Ischia, Pompei,
Amalfi, Positano, Ercolano, Paestum and Vesuvius,
places located at a distance of 50 Kilometres.
Sorrento was first a Phoenician colony , after
that it became a port frequented by Greeks for
the commercial activity with Naples and with
others southern cities. It was named by Greeks
Syrenusion or Syreon that means Sirens land.
The Sirens were the mythological creatures half
woman and half fish, that Homer told in his
famous work Odyssey. These creatures with their
song could fascinate the sailors. After the rule
of Oscans and Sannites it was submitted by
Romans. The Romans appreciated so much the
beauties of this place that during the imperial
period it was elected an holiday destination of
patricians, as the numerous villas witness. From
time immemorial Sorrento has exercised a
particular charm which has attracted poets and
literary men like Goethe, Lamartine, Stendhal, De
Bouchard, Byron to DAnnunzio, Ibsen, Douglas,
musicians like Rossini, Liszt, Mendelssohn,
Wagner, painters like Pinelli, Fernet, Lindstrom,
photographers like De Luca and the brothers
Alinari, directors like De Sica, Gallone and
Mastronardo. Among the famous visitors of
Sorrento we can remember also Enrico Caruso,
Giacomo Casanova, Scipione Breislak, Marion
Crawford, Charles Dickens, Helman Melvill,
Friedtich Nietzche ed Axel Munthe. This coasting
town was included in the eighteenth- century
among the main destinations of the Ground Tour, a
journey among the most significant Italian
cities, that was made by the foreign
intellectuals who wanted to study in depth the
Italian history, art and culture.
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The Basilica of Saint Antonino
The Sedil Dominova
Correale Di Terranova Museum
ARTISTIC GOODS
The Cathedral
Saint Francis cloister
LANDSCAPE GOODS
NATURAL GOODS
Marina Grande
Mineralogical Museum
ETHNOGRAPHICAL GOODS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL GOODS
The Museum-Workshop of Wood Intarsia
The Historic Centre
The Antique Walls
Sorrento cape
The Deep Valley Of Mills
Georges Vallet Archaeological Museum
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THE BASILICA OF SAINT ANTONINO From Piazza
Tasso, proceeding along De Maio Street, you
arrive, in 5 minutes, at the Basilica of Saint
Antonino, set in the homonymous square.The
Basilica was erected in the XI century in the
place where an antique oratory (IX century),
dedicated to Saint Antonino stood, there where
rested the mortal remains of the Saint that here
found refuge during the Longobard invasion.The
Church is rich with elements of spoil, like the
column shafts coming, most probably, from the
numerous Roman country homes present in the
area.On the right side of the Church you can
admire a splendid portal of the XI century with
an architrave supported by Corinthian capitals of
the Roman era.On the inside of the Church
jealously guarded are valuable paintings of
Giovanni Bernardo Lama and the representation of
the siege of Sorrento in 1648, a splendid
painting by Giacomo Del Po in 1687.Even the
Vestry of the Church merits to be visited because
it preserves two precious treasures the
fragments of an antique and elaborated majorica
pavement and a beautiful Neapolitan Christmas
crib of the XVII century, from the school of
Sammartino, with statues made by the most famous
sculptors of the kind. The clothes of the
shepherds are made of precious fabrics enriched
by valuable laces and cured in the smallest
details.In a crypt - remade in 1753 -the tomb of
Saint Antonino is arranged, patron of the city of
Sorrento.Of remarkable interest is the
collection of votive offerings present in the
Church donated particularly by seamen who have
escaped shipwrecks.In the lobby which precedes
the Church, are preserved 2 cetacean ribs posted
as memento of the most famous miracle attributed
to the patron Saint of Sorrento. It is narrated,
in fact, that a whale had swallowed a child and
that the Saint liberated the young boy drawing
him safe and sound from the mouth of the
whale.As testimony of this wonderful miracle,
the Sorrentines placed these two whale bones at
the entrance of the Basilica erected in honour of
the Saint.
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CATHEDRAL In the cathedral of Sorrento couldnt
lack the examples of the local art, famous in all
Italy the wood intarsia. The cathedral of the
town overlooks the street Corso Italia and its
adorned with furnishings realized with ancient
techniques of inlaid work. It was built at the
beginning of the fifteenth century with a
romantic style and later it was restored several
times until the restoration of 1924 during which
were rebuilt entirely its front. The church, in
addition to the baptistery where was baptized
Torquato Tasso, maybe the most famous citizen of
the town, contains a great number of paintings of
the Neapolitan School of the eighteenth century
and is characterized also by a grand campanile.
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SEDIL DOMINOVA It is refined monument, built
around 1450 and perfectly preserved, it is the
ideal place where met the representatives of the
local nobles to discuss about matters related to
the political and administrative life of the
city. The only witness in all region Campania of
the ancient aristocratic meeting point is that
one of Dominova with an open loggia, surmounted
by arches with a square base and that is closed
on the two sides by two balustrades and a
majolica tiled dome of the seventeenth century.
Very interesting are the frescos of the
seventeenth century which represent the
architectonic perspectives. The inner small
lounge preserved the marble inscriptions that now
are at the museum Correale di Terranova in
Sorrento. In the area opposite Sedile Dominova
once stayed a small fountain. From this fountain
was given to the square the name Schizzariello
that means a small squirt of water.
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CORREALE DI TERRANOVA MUSEUM The Correale
Museum is located on what was once land belonging
to the territory called Cape of Cervo or Xeres,
given to Zottola Correale in 1428 by Queen Joanna
II of Angevin. The small building Correale built
there was restructured in 1700 and in the early
1900s, with Pompeo and Alfredo Correale became a
sort of cultural coterie. On their deaths the
Correales donated both the land and building,
with all the works of art it contained, to the
city of Sorrento. The Correale is a Museum
Without kilometres of corridors in attendance,
mansize said the late Franco Russoli. In fact,
wandering through its twenty rooms is like
visiting an old patrician house with all its
furnishings, its little unknown master pieces
from which its hard to detach oneself. What does
this small but precious jewel-case contain? On
the ground floor is the archeological section
with Greek and Roman remins found on Sorrentine
territory as well as remains from the antique
Cathedral of St. Renato. On the same floor is a
room dedicated to Tasso which holds his precious
works along with the poets funeral mask. On the
two upper floors are precious pieces of 1700s
furniture in Neapolitan and Sicilian style
porcelain by Doccia and Giustiniani, Venetian
glass and statuettes from 1750 by the Royal
Capodimonte manufacture. The walls hold works by
major painters from the Neapolitan School of the
1600s and 1700s like Luca Giordano, Salvator
Rosa, Giacomo Del Po, De Mura, il Vaccaro as well
as the most prestigious names from the School of
Posillipo" such as Duclere, Pitloo and Giacinto
Gigante who with their water-colours alone merit
a visit to the museum as these are considered
their finest works. Not to be missed is the room
dedicated to the old masters of Sorrentine
marquetry like Damora and Gargiulo. Another sight
which is not to be missed is the view from the
orange grove which ends in a Belvedere
overlooking the entire Gulf.
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IL CHIOSTRO DI SAN FRANCESCO A few metres from
Piazza Sant'Antonino, where the Basilica
dedicated to the patron saint of Sorrento stands,
in Piazza Francesco Saverio Gargiulo - in the
vicinity of the Villa Comunale - rises a historic
triptych set in a tuff wall known in Peninsula as
"conventual complex of San Francesco d'Assisi".
The elements which characterize the triptych are
the Church, the Monastery and the Cloister.The
Church, which dates back to the XIV century, is a
triumph of baroque style with rich stucco
decorations. It is a church cradle of precious
"treasures of our memory" like a majestic wooden
main door of the 1500's, two frescoes of '700
portraying Sant'Antonio of Padova and San
Giacomo, returned to the light during restoration
work in 1926, and a splendid wooden statue of San
Francesco with Christ Crucified. On the outside
of the Church- in 1992 - a bronze statue
representing San Francesco has been placed,
created by the sculptor Alfiero Nena. Near the
Church a Monastery is erected, founded in the VII
century, given to the Franciscan monks in the XIV
century, and a beautiful Cloister.The Cloister
is a perfect fusion of different architectural
styles, on two sides of the porch we find crossed
tuff arches, stylistic expression of the late
fourteenth century instead, on the other two
sides impressive round arches on octagonal
pillars are erected. The attentive eye can notice
the presence of numerous elements of spoils
coming from pagan temples, skillfully integrated
architecturally and used as corner
pillars.During the summer period, the Cloister
is transformed and becomes the background for
works of art exhibitions and of the Sorrentine
Musical Summer, an extraordinary continuation of
appointments bound to music with the presence of
artists coming from all over the world. Rich with
flowers, plants and ornamental trees, the
Cloister is almost a place of tales, with its
typical arch structure and the melodious chirping
of the birds that in the spring elect this spot
as their favourite residence, seems to transport
visitors backwards in time, in an antique tale of
the Arabian world.Visit it on a splendid, sunny
day. In the shade of the porches or under a tree,
you can savour all the magic of a place enveloped
in silence, coloured by stupendous flowers made
brilliant by the sunshine and rich in scents
which mingle in the air.
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MARINA GRANDE You can reach this place trough a
road that goes downhill, with large steps. This
road has origin from the end of the street
Sopra le Mura. After few steps you reach to
the gate of Marina Grande which preserves,
despite the successive restorations, the typical
Greek structure and its dated around the IV
century B.C. From this gate entered the Turkish
pirates, sacked Sorrento in 1558. Going beyond
this gate you are behind a typical fishing
village, represented by a fusion between the
Moorish architecture and the real local style.
From this combination arise architectonic forms,
bizarre and picturesque like the houses, built
in the tuff cliff and that are still inhabited.
Here arises also St. Annes church, the patron
saint of the village, was built at the end of the
seventeenth century and later extended. On this
beach, in a shipyard under the open sky were
built the famous Sorrento fishing boats, a
typical wood boat with a sail, these boats were
long from 6 to 12 meters, easy to handle and
reliable, unsinkable. The mastery skill of
Sorrento artisans was so great that the fishing
boats were used by the fishermen of the Gulf of
Naples and of the islands. Heirs of this
tradition are the fishing motor boat that are
built still today in Sorrento and its
surroundings.
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THE ANTIQUE WALLS The historic centre of
Sorrento, of Greek-osca origin, coincides ith the
area included in the 16th century walls
(1551-1561) still visible today in many
points. The remains of the Greek walls, today,
can still be admired in the "sopra le Mura"
(over the Walls) area an antique pre-Roman
door exists as well, a few metres underneath the
actual gate of "Parsano Nuovo" (New Parsano)
continued to respect the urban plan designed in
the tuff by the Greeks, and in particular built
the walls to strengthen the city using big
isodomic blocks as their predecessors had
done.During the Roman domination the city of
Sorrento was completely surrounded by walls with
5 entrance doors - two in the direction of the
sea and three of the land - and a series of
towers built to defend the doors deduced as being
the most vulnerable "Porta di Marina Grande"
(Large Coastline Door) and "Porta Piazza Tasso"
(Door of Tasso Square).These walls, remained a
protection of Sorrento during the whole medieval
age. The invasion of the Saracens, ferocious
Turkish pirates, for centuries has upset the
peace of the small town. They arrived secretly
and silently from the sea and raided the small
settlements along the coast, then went back up
towards the centre of the small town to complete
their work.From the towers, strategically
positioned along the walls, the sentinels would
sound the alarm and the people would leave their
occupations and escape.The ferocity of the
Saracen invasions induced the Sorrentines to
remake and strengthen the walls the works,
started in 1551, were terminated 10 years later,
in 1561.Still today, through the remains of
those powerful walls and of those towers wisely
built, it is possible to breath in the past, to
perceive the efforts and the work done to build,
rock upon rock, those walls with the hope that
the Saracens would not be able to cross them...
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SORRENTO CAPE This locality, halfway between
Sorrento and Massa Lubrense, reachable also by
bus, contains the Regina Giovanna Beaches and the
archaeological site of the villa of Pollio
Felice. To reach this area you have to go along a
narrow street, shaded by olive and orange trees,
with the walls covered by ivy, which goes down
along the ramp degrading to the sea. The cliff is
dedicated to the queen Giovanna Durazzo dAngiò,
who , according to a legend, came to lower
herself into this sheet of sea. All the space
behind the top of the mountain is occupied by
remains of a great Roman villa, that belonged
maybe to the patrician Pollio Felice, built at
the time of the emperor Domiziano (81-96 A.D.)
and was also sung by the Latin poet Stazio in his
poem Silvae. Going on you can reach the
Solara a expanse of cliffs corroded by the sun,
a summer destination of hundred bathers.
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GEORGES VALLET ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM In order to
understand the territory, let's not absolutely
miss a visit near Museo Archeologico Territoriale
Georges Vallet, which through the preserved
finds, it gives evidence of the different phases
of population and transformations of the
peninsula, from prehistory to the Roman age. The
first archaeological museum of the peninsula,
rich in didactic and multimedia supports, offers
to visitors a heterogeneity of objects, such as
arrows ends of neolithic era, little jugs,
examples of sculpture, archaic architecture and
many others.
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MUSEO BOTTEGA DELLA TARSIA LIGNEA A NEW MODEL OF
MUSEUM FOR THE DECORATIVE ARTS The building that
houses the Museobottega stands on via S. Nicola
and is part of an ancient urban nucleus. Its
eighteenth century structure is typical of a
provincial townhouse with more consequential
pretensions. The Museobottega is a polyfunctional
structure designed to requalify those sectors of
the decorative arts which have not only a past
worthy of being recorded but also a productivity
which needs to be sustained and helped to renew
its contents. In the structure the cataloguing
and display of the historical production serves
as the introduction to a more ample programme
going beyond the conservation of our heritage.
There is a need for training programmes in the
specific sectors of craft activity, and an
autonomous production based on the techniques and
materials which represent the best in the
tradition of each craft. THE HISTORICAL
COLLECTIONis introduced by the exhibition of
objects and furniture produced in the nineteenth
century wich focuses on the technical and
decorative characteristics of the various
intarsia workshops then active in Italy. This is
designed to give to the visitor a better
understanding of the specific features of the
craft as it was practised in Sorrento. The
exhibition of local ware is preceded by an
extensive selection of paintings, prints and
photographs of the setting for this local craft.
Different sections in the Museobottega illustrate
the evolution of production techniques, the
materials used, the decorative motifs and the
details of design which characterise the local
production in inlaid wood. After recognising the
part played by the local School of Art in
training successive generations of craftsmen, the
exhibition terminates with the work of local
master craftsmen produced during the nineteenth
century.RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION The principal
objective of the Museobottega is to ensure
continuity for the tradition of intarsia work in
Sorrento by commissioning and marketing products
reflecting a cultural renaissance in the craft.
It is many years since the artisan represented a
composite figure uniting manual skills with
design acumen, once the secret of his success.
The only way to contrast the impoverishment of
the various sectors of the arts and crafts seems
to be to accompany the artisan with a person well
versed in the culture of the craft, able to offer
assistance in the conceptual phase of production.
The production of the Alessandro Fiorentino
Collection is the tangible result of such
collaboration. Intarsia work has always been
considered a decorative addition to the item to
which it was applied, whereas here production has
been based on a new equilibrium in which the
finished product is a univocal expression of
formal structure.
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THE HISTORIC CENTRE Between the town walls rest
the monuments, churches and the testimonies of
antique civilizations walking through the
streets of the historic centre, the antique
Greek-Roman structure is still legible, memory
represented vividly in via Pietà, via S. Cesareo,
via Padre Reginaldo Giuliani and via Tasso.Along
these antique streets, small dim lights aligned
on the walls of tuff, reveal the treasures and
tell the secrets of the historic centre. Via
Pietà, an antique major decuman, timidly exhibits
the Arab-Byzantine decorations of the Veniero
Palace and the Correale Palace with its majestic
courtyard with majorica tiles of the
1700's. Along the other decuman - via S. Cesareo
- it's possible to admire "Sedile di Porta" and
"Dominava", where the nobility of Sorrento
reunited inside the City's coat of arms and
those of the local patrician families are
portrayed. Its majorica tiled dome dates back to
the 1600's.Continuing along via P.R. Giuliani
and via Tasso, the portals of the antique noble
homes, designed in Catalan style, appear
majestic. It is between these streets that at
dawn a scent of bread and sweets just taken out
of the oven is diffused and as the moon slowly
gives up its place to the sun, voices are
multiplied and mixed with the murmurs, footsteps
and the thousand colours of the marketplaces that
cheer up the historic centre daily. Then there is
the "Casa Fasulo" where Torquato Tasso, an
illustrious Sorrentine poet, found
hospitality.The centre of Sorrento is extremely
rich, each alley, shop, church and building, has
a story to show and tell. Each corner hides a
legend to be narrated and findings to be admired
just waiting for visitors "greedy" for history
and culture, to satisfy.
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THE DEEP VALLEY OF MILLS(Il Vallone dei
Mulini) In the historical centre of Sorrento,
behind Tasso Square, it is possible to admire
from above - in a suggestive perspective - a
natural extraordinary spectacle The Deep Valley
of the Mills. The Deep Valley encircles on the
south-east side, the tuffaceous block of the
present historical centre of Sorrento observing
it from above a characteristic rift of the rock
is visible, that carves profoundly and
transversely the tuffaceous platform. This
incisive rift has originated from the vastest
eruption which shook the Mediterranean about
35,000 years ago.The potent eruption filled the
entire calcareous valley with debris between
Scutolo Point and the Cape of Sorrento the
waters which passed through the valleys -
finding them clogged up with volcanic materials -
searched for a new path towards the sea cutting
progressively through the tuffaceous bank. The
valleys became privileged places of the human's
settlement. The pre-historic cave of the Conca
(Nicolucci Cave), on the uphill of the Valley of
Large Seashore (Marina Grande) and the
settlement of Gaudo in Piano of Sorrento, remain
two tangible traces of this phenomenon. The
Valley of the Mills is incised by two streams of
water Casarlano-Cesarano and Saint Antonino. The
lack of water has contributed to form very narrow
gorges, only in the point where the two streams
of water meet the gorge widens and forms a vast
area at the feet of the Villa "La Rupe".The name
Valley of the Mills, derives from the existence
of a mill - functioning since the beginning of
the '900's - used for grinding wheat. Attached to
the mill, rose a sawmill which furnished chaff to
the Sorrentine cabinet makers. Everything is
completed by a public wash-house used by the
women of the people.The creation of Tasso
Square, since 1866, determined the isolation of
the mill area from the sea, provoking a sharp
rise of the percentage of humidity, which made
the area unbearable and determined its
progressive abandon.The new microclimate
favoured the development of a thriving and
spontaneous vegetation in which the dominant
element is the Phillitis Vulgaris, a splendid and
rare model belonging to the fern family.Today it
is possible to have access to the remaining part
of the Deep Valley crossing antique ramps
engraved into the tuff with entrance from a
trapdoor near the Stragazzi parking. Equip
yourself with binoculars and camera and observe
from above the remains of the mill and the
splendid savage vegetation. The best position is
Fuorimura Street, behind Tasso Square.
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