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Atrani is a city and comune on the Amalfi Coast in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It is located to the east of Amalfi, several minutes' drive down the coast.
The municipality of Atrani has a land area of , making it the smallest in Italy. Its population was 832 in 2020. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").
Though it is part of the Amalfi Coast, it is the only town along the coast to preserve intact its antique, traditional characteristics.
The initial houses face the beach directly. They are grouped around the square and move around the church of San Salvatore and the marble fountain before going up towards the valley and climbing along the rocky mountain and crossing the gardens and the lemon fields. Atrani is isolated from automobile traffic because it is protected by its antique houses with flowered balconies. The central square of Atrani leads directly to the beach and the sea by crossing an antique passageway created to save boats from sea storms.
For the 30-year period from 1961 to 1990 the average temperature of the coldest month, January, was 10.7 degrees Celsius (51 degrees F); the temperature of the hottest month, August, was 26.8 degrees Celsius (80 degrees F).
Only Amalfi and Atrani had the right to elect or depose the leaders of the towns. Amalfi was first ruled by counts, then by prefects, judges, and then finally by the Dukes (not doges, as is sometimes erroneously said). The Duke concentrated in his person both civil and military power. The symbol of his power was a hat, the "birecto", which the dukes were awarded in a coronation in the palatine chapel of S. Salvatore de Birecto of Atrani.
The village of Atrani was more extensive than its current borders and protected by massive fortifications. It extended as far as Castiglione (now part of the municipality of Ravello), and was so named from the castellio, which was a large castle situated on the promontory where the collegiate church of St. Mary Magdalene stands today. In the Civita area there was the Castle of Supramonte, which was destroyed by attacks by the Republic of Pisa between 1135 and 1137. There was also the coastal tower of "Tumulo" or "San Francisco", built in 500 by Don Parafan de Ribera to defend against the Turkish people who, after the defeat of the Christian fleet at Djerba near Tunis in 1560, would eventually overrun the coast.
Atrani contributed to the economic and social development of the duchy. Atrani had prosperous pasta and fabric factories that produced sajette and precious fabrics. This commerce made Atrani the pride of the coast. They were particularly active east of the duchy, in Paestum, Cava de' Tirreni and Vietri sul Mare. Atrani's economic success saw it plagued by many raids by the Republic of Pisa in the 12th century.
In 987 Amalfi was promoted to the rank of archdiocese by Pope John XV. The first archbishop Leone di Sergio di Urso Comite, who was from Atrani. Atrani had a flourishing religious life, with about three hundred churches and chapels in the city. Monte Maggiore (now Mount Aureo) housed six monasteries, the oldest of the region.
In the second half of 1100, Manfredi punished Atrani for siding in favour of the pope in the struggle between the papacy and the empire and sent 1000 Alexandrian sailors against Atrani. The inhabitants of Atrani fled to Amalfi, and the mercenaries settled in the village, and it would be many years before they abandoned it. The departure of the mercenaries is attributed to the intercession of St. Mary Magdalene. Small traces of the occupation still remain today, in the cadence of the local dialect and a handful of words.
The Earthquake of 1343 struck the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the resultant tsunami ravaged the ports along the Amalfi Coast, including Atrani's. The effects of the tsunami were observed by the poet Petrarch, whose ship was forced to return to port, and recorded in the fifth book of his Epistolae familiares. In the years that followed, Atrani's fortunes were tied to those of Amalfi, whose duchy had fallen and been incorporated into the Principality of Salerno.
The Neapolitan Republic or 'Royal Republic' () was proclaimed under the protection of France and Masaniello was acclaimed as "Captain-General of the Neapolitan People." The power went to his head and he fell into a series of excesses that made him unpopular with the people. On July 16, 1647, he was killed. The Neapolitan Republic lasted until the following April, when it succumbed to the Spanish.
In 1643 the Great Plague killed many Atranese. On 22 June 1807, Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, went on an official visit to the Amalfi Coast. Struck by the beauty of the place in Amalfi and Atrani in particular, he promised to build a road that would make it easier to access the Kingdom of the Amalfi. This road, begun by Joachim Murat in 1816, was only completed in 1854.
The oldest pieces in the church are a tombstone of the 14th century, depicting the noble lady Atranese Filippa Napolitano and a marble slab of the 12th century, depicting two peacocks. The peacock, sacred to Juno, was revered by many Eastern peoples as a symbol of vanity and pride, well represented by the people and goods of Amalfi. The peacocks are also a symbol of resurrection. Doors of bronze, made in 1087, were donated to the church by Pantaleone III, a nobleman from Amalfi. The door is divided into tiles of depicted scenes, containing the image of Christ, the Madonna and some saints. It is now housed in the church of Santa Maria Maddalena.
The building underwent a second operation almost a century later, in 1669. On that occasion it also repaired the sacristy which was equipped with an external counter. In 1753, as the population grew the church was enlarged and expanded by donations from private citizens in addition to the contribution of municipal regiment. It was during this work that the fortress was finally demolished in order to free up additional space enlargement. In recent times, it was renovated by the architect Lorenzo Casalbore of Salerno.
The church is decorated with two transepts. One ceiling is covered externally with tiles; the other has a flat roof. There are numerous statues and paintings placed in various side chapels: The Madonna shepherdess (famous sculpture of 1789) and The Incredulity of St. Thomas (work of the 16th century Salerno Andrea Sabatini). The facade of the church is considered "the only example of Rococo on the Amalfi Coast". The terrace of the sacristy overlooks the Gulf of Salerno as the Belvedere of Villa Cimbrone. The bell tower, with its brown tuff, is reminiscent of the Madonna del Carmine in Naples.
The fame of the construction is related to the story of Giovanna d'Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi. She was the granddaughter of Ferdinand I of Aragon. At twelve years old, in 1490, she married Alfonso I Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, who in 1498, left her a widow and mother of a newborn son at the helm of the Duchy, which at that time was in poor financial shape. The young woman, against the will of his brothers, married Antonio Bologna, her butler, with whom she had a passionate love affair. The brothers tried to suppress the scandal and, after many deviations and daring escapes, imprisoned Giovanna and their children in the Torre dello Ziro. Here they were starved to death or, according to the most reliable report, strangled, while Bologna was stabbed to death at the hands of assassins. These events inspired Matteo Bandello to write his twenty-fourth novel. Two tragedies were taken from this: The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster and El Mayordomo de la Duquesa de Amalfi by Lope de Vega.
Inside the building is preserved cinerary urn of white marble, dating from the Julio-Claudian dynasty, belonged to a freedman of Claudius or Nero. The inscription of the urn testifies to the liberation that an imperial freedman, a noble of the royal family, granted to a woman who therefore, it is often assumed, has become her master's wife (a custom particularly common in the period between Augustus and Marcus Aurelius).
Atrani was featured in a Fiat 500 USA advert entitled "Immigrants". Fiat 500 "Immigrants" Commercial
In the film The Equalizer 3, Atrani features as the fictional village of Altamonte.
In the Netflix streaming series Ripley, Atrani is where Dickie Greenleaf and his girlfriend Marge Sherwood are living.Boulter, Liz. " ‘This coast is saturated’: Italian village braces for post-Ripley crowds", The Guardian. April 12, 2024.
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