It is one of the most important municipalities of the Amalfi coast, for its beach admired by many tourists who like to choose it for their holidays. In the province of Salerno is Maiori, an ancient town whose origins date back to the Etruscan domination. Considered a few steps from the "front door of the." Amalfi Coast”Also has many monuments and places to visit. Let's go and discover it together. Because this summer could be chosen as a destination for holidays of many Italians. Among other things, it is one of the Italian municipalities declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco precisely for its art.
Maiori discovering its history
Its origins probably date back to the period of ancient Rome to which we owe the original name of Reghinna Major, the watercourse that flows into the inlet of today's Maiori as opposed to Reghinna Minor, the smaller one that flows into the nearby inlet of Minori. But there is also a legend, narrated by the writer Pliny that dates back to the goddess Maia, whose name, translated from Latin, takes on the meaning of "she who brings growth", therefore Maiori. According to other legends it seems that the Greeks had dedicated a temple to the goddess Boxstural to the city or that Hercules had come to those areas, because it is said that in the hamlet of Erchie there was a temple dedicated to him.
The wide beach that runs along the area and the monuments to visit
Among the municipalities of the Amalfi coast, Maiori has a very long one beach with cultivated land ad citrus fruits. In the village of Erchie there are suggestive beaches and then Capo d'Orso, the Pandora caves, the sulfur cave and beaches such as Cala Bellavaia. Halfway between Salerno and Amalfi it has a wide beach and a beautiful promenade. Due to its geographical position it allows you to easily reach the other pearls of the coast such as Ravello, Amalfi and Positano or Vietri sul Mare and the capital Salerno.
Among the most beautiful monuments to visit are the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria a Mare and the Sanctuary of the Avvocata overlooking the entire Amalfi Coast from above. This can only be reached after a long walk. And then i castles of San Nicola de ThoroPlano, built as a refuge for the population against the raids of the Lombards and Saracens and that of Miramare; the convent of San Francesco.
The collegiate church of Santa Maria a Mare is the main religious building in Maiori. Built in the thirteenth century, it is located on a hill in the center of the town. The interior has three naves, of which the central one with a coffered ceiling commissioned by the Mezzacapo, Lanario and De Ponte families, executed in 1529 by the Neapolitan painter Alessandro de Fulco. There is a crypt that preserves the remains of San Clemente and in which the “Don Clemente Confalone” museum of sacred art is set up. The exteriors, in eighteenth-century style, have a bell tower, dating back to the fourteenth century, and a hemispherical dome.
Maiori chosen by the director Rossellini
For its naturalistic and artistic beauties Maiori was chosen by the neorealist director Roberto Rossellini. In this city he set some scenes of his famous films. "The places where one has enjoyed oneself and is loved, where there are poor devils who are convinced that they have seen the devil - the director would have said -. The inhabitants of the coast are crazy, drunk with the sun. But they know how to live by making use of a strength that few of us possess: the strength of the imagination". In Maiori Rossellini shot "Paisà ", "The miracle", second episode of the film Amore and "The bad-killing machine".
