Amalfi Transfers and Tour

According to tradition, Hercules, the pagan god of strength, he loved a nymph called Amalfi, but his love was short-lived: she died and Hercules wanted to bury her in the most beautiful place in the world and, to immortalize it, he gave the name to the city ​​he built there.
For the story, however, was founded after the death of Constantine, it draws its origins from Roman families who embarked for Constantinople, were swept away by the storm in the Gulf of Policastro.

These families have founded the Gulf of Policastro first settlement, "Melphes", the current Melfi, then they moved north, they would have taken up residence on the site of Amalfi, basing it as "A-Melphes."
The earliest records date back to 533, during the war greek-Gothic, when, with the victory of Narses of Teia, Amalfi passed under the rule of the Byzantine Empire and became a part of the Duchy of Naples.

In the sixth century it became a bishopric. The bishop functioned as religious and provided to the defense of the city. Later was going to form an aristocracy of landowners, which deprived the bishop of political power. In 836 Sicard, Duke of Benevento, sacked Amalfi, deporting the inhabitants in Salerno. 839 killed the Duke Sicard, the Amalfi revolted and took over power and autonomy that lasted until the end of the eleventh century.

Amalfi began a shrewd policy in respect of two empires and other Italian states to safeguard their commercial interests and defeated the Saracens who insidiavano traffic. At first it was straight to the Republic, in 850, by two "prefects" annual, then by "judges", and finally the 958 from "Dukes doges."
On their election had a formal right of confirmation, the emperors of the East, but in fact the city was administered in full freedom, with laws, magistrates and their own coins.

The needs of defense and maritime trade, Amalfi often pushed to ally with the Saracens and Ludovico II against the Byzantines, who wanted to restore the sovereignty of the Eastern Empire. The alliance with the Saracens, however, was unstable and duratura.Questi fact, in 915, after a furious battle were beaten and definitively expelled from the territory of Amalfi. In 920, again at the hands of Amalfi, were expelled from Reggio Calabria.Per around the X century and the beginning of the eleventh, the Amalfi had a solid commercial expansion and economic prosperity in the Mediterranean occupying that place which later had Pisa and Genoa.

The richness of Amalfi was that at this time that William Appulo wrote that no city was rich in gold, silver and textiles of all kinds and that you met Arabs, Sicilians, Africans and even Indians. This explains the richness of its maritime traditions, which had by Amalfi one of their oldest codification, in the famous "Tabula Amalphitana" which was the most accredited maritime code of all seafaring nations of the time.

It regolamentava relations between master of the ship and sailors, and among sailors and merchants. The same legend of Flavio Gioia, who probably lived in the early fourteenth century, confirmed to the Amalfi boast of having first perfected the compass for the benefit of navigation, and to have provided material of the first medieval nautical charts. Dominating the market of spices, perfumes, silk and precious carpets in the tenth century coined the gold coin, the tari gold and silver, which were in circulation in the empire greek, in Africa and in the principalities Lombards. These coins were similar to those Muslims, what a demonstration of the fact that trade relations were developed with the Arabs with the Byzantines. The remarkable development of Amalfi was due in large part to the independence he enjoyed, but the narrowness of the territory and the military weakness due to the lack of support Byzantine rendered insecure this independence. In 1039 Guaimario V, Prince of Salerno, s'impadronò of the Duchy of Amalfi, and although retold the power to the Duke Manso II the blind man, who had been deprived by his brother John II, settled in reality the domain of the city of Salerno.

Pressed by Salerno, the Amalfi, ruled by Sergio IV, they turned to Robert Guiscard in 1073.
Salerno capitulated, but the Amalfi had to let them occupy the city by the Normans, getting back the peace at the cost of freedom. The "terror mundi" showed himself magnanimous towards Amalfi, giving them a degree of autonomy. After the death of Norman Prince in 1085, Amalfi tried several times to shake off the Norman yoke. In 1135 Amalfi suffered a horrible looting by the Pisani "traitors", called to the rescue against the tyranny Norman.

And 'from this period beginning with the decline of Amalfi. In 1343 a tsunami scary, described by Petrarch, invested the coastline; most of the town was destroyed (probably with it also the Ducal Palace, mentioned in a document as "palatium amalphitanum"), were submerged fortifications, shipyards, warehouses and marine equipment.

Five years later, the famous plague of 1348, described by Boccaccio, complete the work of destruction among men. Amalfi and all the towns of the coast that were beautiful towns populated and fortified, full of sumptuous palaces, adorned with frescoes, marble columns, fountains, set out to become modest countries, deprived of the wealth that came from the sea, returned to ' traditional economy of fishing, local crafts and agriculture.

Only at the end of the nineteenth century the emergence of tourism gave back up to a city that is the economic epicenter of the entire coast from Amalfi takes its name.