L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 10 L'Italo-Americano S omewhere in the middle of the list is Naples, though n o t t h e o n e a n Italian-American reader would think of first: it i s t h e N a p l e s o n t h e G u l f Coast of Florida. It is one of twenty towns that Condé N a s t T r a v e l e r g a t h e r e d this summer under the title The 20 Most Beautiful Towns in the World for Every Type of Traveler: the list runs from Burford in England to Siwa in Egypt, and at the head of it, above Biei in Japan and Baños in Ecuador, the magazine put P r a i a n o , a t o w n o n t h e Amalfi Coast that most peo- p l e w h o h a v e d r i v e n t h a t road went straight through, on their way from Positano to Amalfi. By the middle of August, the Italian papers had turned it into il borgo p i ù b e l l o d e l m o n d o , t h e most beautiful village in the world, and the headline has b e e n g o i n g a r o u n d e v e r since. The twenty towns on the list were chosen to suit dif- f e r e n t k i n d s o f t r a v e l e r s , with Praiano appearing first based on what people usually l o o k f o r o n t h e A m a l f i C o a s t – b e a c h e s , o l d churches, tilework and sea views – while still feeling less c r o w d e d a n d l e s s f o r m a l t h a n s o m e o f i t s b e t t e r - known neighbors. Praiano is like this for a very pragmatic reason, one that is written into the shape of the coast: Positano and Amalfi grew where valleys o p e n o n t o t h e s e a , w h i c h gave both towns a waterfront and, eventually, room for boats, hotels and visitors to collect in the same place. Praiano, on the other hand, had no such luck. It stretches along the coast road on the s t e e p f l a n k o f t h e L a t t a r i m o u n t a i n s , w i t h h o u s e s standing roughly 260 to 590 feet above the water and no broad beach at the bottom where the town could gather around a harbor. What it has instead are coves: Marina di Praia, a narrow cut in the cliff where fishing boats are still pulled u p b e t w e e n h i g h w a l l s o f r o c k , a n d t h e G a v i t e l l a , around the headland, where people go down for the sun- set. Even historically, Pra- i a n o w a s d i v i d e d i n t w o , with Vettica Maggiore lower d o w n , w h e r e f i s h e r m e n lived, and Praiano proper above it, where the land was farmed. All this makes the name slightly odd, because p r a i a m e a n s b e a c h a n d comes from the same root as the French plage, while Pra- i a n o i t s e l f h a s v e r y l i t t l e beach to spare; the name p r o b a b l y p o i n t s b a c k t o Marina di Praia, small as it i s , b e c a u s e t h a t s t r i p o f shore was there before the town spread up the slope. In the Middle Ages, Pra- i a n o f o r m e d p a r t o f t h e Republic of Amalfi, and local tradition says its doges came here for the summer. However, a coast pleasant enough for a holiday was also exposed enough to need watching, as plenty of raids c a m e i n f r o m t h e s e a , s o towers went up along the shoreline to give warning. Praiano's Torre a Mare is one of the survivors, a squat cone of local limestone with walls about ten feet thick at the base. One of thirty-four watchtowers still standing along the Amalfi Coast, the exact date of its construction is debated, with some histo- rians placing it in 1278, oth- ers in 1558. Regardless of its actual "birthday," Torre a Mare can claim its own place in contemporary world art, as it has served, for the past couple of decades, as the studio of artist Paolo San- dulli. P r a i a n o i s a l s o w e l l known for its tilework – mentioned by Condé Nast Traveler, too – which can be admired at its best in Vetti- c a M a g g i o r e , where the c h u r c h o f S a n G e n n a r o , completed in 1602, has a d o m e c o v e r e d i n p o l y - c h r o m e m a j o l i c a . T h i s type of roof is quite common a l o n g t h e A m a l f i C o a s t , because glazed tiles cope far b e t t e r w i t h s a l t a n d r a i n than exposed plaster ever could. If we move to the square in front of the church, we find out that it has a strong connection with local emi- grants, as its enlargement w a s p a i d f o r w i t h m o n e y sent home by those who had left for Argentina, the Unit- ed States and France. Curi- ously, in 1954 the pavement was decorated with designs a s s e m b l e d o u t o f b r o k e n pieces of majolica, almost l i k e a g i a n t m o s a i c m a d e from leftovers. Anyone wanting to test the claim that Praiano is free of crowds should probably a v o i d t h e f i r s t d a y s o f A u g u s t , w h e n t h e t o w n holds the Luminaria di San Domenico, an event strongly linked to local his- tory. The Dominican friars from the Sanità in Naples arrived in 1606 at the con- vent of Santa Maria a Cas- tro and brought the devo- tion to San Domenico with them, along with one of the m o r e m e m o r a b l e s t o r i e s attached to him: before his birth, his mother was said to have dreamed of a dog car- rying a burning torch in its mouth and setting the world a l i g h t , a n i m a g e t h a t remained vivid, in part, also because the Latin name for the order, Dominicani, lends itself neatly to the old play on words Domini canes, the dogs of the Lord. The torch became an obvious symbol to keep, and that's where the luminaria comes from: for three or four nights, Praiano lights thousands of candles along terraces, windowsills, alleys and domes, while the square in front of San Gen- naro fills with them. What Condé Nast Travel- er seems to have liked about Praiano, then, is perhaps simpler than we may have imagined when reading the headlines: it has the church- es, the majolica, the coves and the views people come to the Amalfi Coast for, but the geography never gave it enough flat ground at sea l e v e l t o t u r n i n t o a l a r g e resort. However, Praiano did not set out to be just a "qui- eter alternative;" the moun- tain, simply, left it very little room to become anything else. The most beautiful village in the world: Praiano GIULIA FRANCESCHINI ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES The polychrome majolica dome of the Church of San Gennaro in Vettica Maggiore, Praiano (Photo: Bogusz Strulak/Dreamstime.com); inset, the Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei), the celebrated hiking trail running between Agerola, Praiano and Positano along the Amalfi Coast (Photo: Massimo Buonaiuto/Dreamstime.com)

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