Amalfi Houses: Architectural Gems on the Italian Coast

A mythical place, the Amalfi Coast is home to dream villas within a unique landscape. Some of them have opened their doors for the first time, providing a unique opportunity to enter these exclusive homes.

The Amalfi Coast has always been a sought after destination among artists and the international jet set thanks to its spectacular topography, which combines a rugged coast and cliff-side villages overlooking the sea with the climate and the light of the Mediterranean, and the characteristic traditions and craftsmanship of the Campania region.

The visitors to the Coast include major names that helped make it famous, such as Gore Vidal, Rudolph Nureyev, Greta Garbo, John Steinbeck, Gianni Agnelli, Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill, Franco Zeffirelli, Maria Callas, Princess Margaret, and Hillary Clinton.

This book gathers together beautiful houses from the Sorrento peninsula and the stretch of coast that extends from Positano to Vietri sul Mare, villas from different eras with different styles, some of which were decorated by famous designers and artists.

Each villa surprises the reader with its uniqueness: historic homes that have been transformed over the years and more contemporary villas, some with lush gardens, all equally fascinating thanks to their topographical position, architectural quality, furnishings and interior decorations, which include the truly unique ceramic floors of Vietri.

All of them encapsulate curious stories related to the people who have inhabited and transformed them, tales traced by journalist Ana Cardinale with an abundance of detail.

The photographs were taken specifically for the book by renowned French photographer Matthieu Salvaing. They include the exteriors and spectacular landscape views, the interiors and furnishings, and numerous decorative details of the ceramic features.

About The Author

Ana Cardinale is a journalist and stylist based in Paris specialized in interiors, design, art and architecture. She works as a producer with different photographers and is a regular collaborator for numerous international magazines and newspapers such as AD Architectural Digest, ELLE Decoration, Living Corriere della Sera, Holiday Magazine, Io Donna, Vogue, World of Interiors, Vanity Fair and many more. She published the book Living in Argentina in 2008 (Taschen). Matthieu Salvaing is a French photographer. Having trained in Arles, he then spent a long time in Brazil and Latin America before settling in Paris. He is a photographer of architecture, design and interiors, but also a reporter who has travelled the world. He has published books with Assouline and Rizzoli.