Its “permanent” population of circa 5,000 people is around the same size as Naracoorte’s, or circa half that of the Australian Portland.
Naracoorte is a prosperous South Australian country town; Portland is Victoria’s oldest “European” settlement.
The post’s actually-European town is very much older than any Australian one.
its population and power peaked circa one thousand years ago.
Its eponymous republic was then a significant maritime power, trading in many “things”, including enslaved humans.
Tourism-wise, its “peak” is circa right now, and it is stratospherically beyond Naracoorte’s or Portland’s wildest dreams…or nightmares.
My beloved and I were among circa five million tourists who visited it last year!
You are looking at Amalfi, on southern Italy’s Amalfi Coast.
If the question is “when is the best time to visit the Amalfi Coast?”, the truthful answer is “at least twenty years ago.”
That said, it has not lost all of its beauty and there still are good reasons to visit…but be warned: “intimate”, “unspoilt”, “uncrowded” and “great value” are generally not apropos descriptors.
Tourist “hordes” (and those who prey upon them) notwithstanding, Amalfi gifted us with one utterly unexpected, enjoyable experience, gratis…as the next few posts will illustrate
Click here for more about Amalfi’s history.
Photo (©️ Doug Spencer) of Amalfi taken at 5.49 pm on 07 September 2023.