The first town and gateway to the Amalfi Coast, Vietri sul Mare is world famous thanks to its ancient ceramic tradition, which originated in pre-Roman times. Since then, the art of the “red earth” outlines the unmistakable tract of the town: on the walls of the houses, on the roofs, on the balconies, in the votive aedicules, in the shop signs… on the magnificent of the Church of San Giovanni Battista, which is the centre of the town and from where the main streets are radially set out, connecting the centre to the suggestive hamlets: Albori, Benincasa, Dragonea, Raito, Molina, Iaconti, Santa Maria degli Angeli and Marina. The best way to admire the town is to look out from Piazza Matteotti. On the left, there is the “Ciroppolo”, or the town of Vietri, below there is Marina di Vietri, and on the right, higher up the villages of Raito and Albori, with a series of peaks and coves below that led to the Tower of Tummolo in Erchie.

Il ciucciariello (The little donkey)

This is the symbol of Vietri ceramics. Today it is modelled in the most bizarre forms by master craftsmen everywhere, but the first donkey was made by Richard Dolker in 1923. The artist was struck by the humility and, at the same time, the precious work done by donkeys that carried foreign travellers from the port of Salerno, with their heavy trunks in tow, along the three kilometres of road that leads to Vietri sul Mare and from here to Cava de’ Tirreni or the Coast…