Ravello, history of a town

According to tradition the town’s origins lie, like those of other towns on the Amalfi Coast, with a group of Roman castaways sent by Emperor Constantine to colonize the new capital of Constantinople and reaching the coast after a long journey in search of an hospitable place. The true story however begins around the 10th century AD, when the town’s first dwellings began to spread in order to house an increasing number of inhabitants. From that moment on Ravello was to gravitate around the nearby Amalfi and, when Amalfi became an independent Sea Republic in 839 AD, Ravello also was part of its Duchy. The Norman Ruggiero (son of Robert the Guiscard) raised Ravello to the status of Diocese – directly accountable to Rome – in order to contain the increasingly powerful Amalfi.

It became Episcopal Seat in 1086 by decree of Ruggiero, in reward  for the loyalty shown by its Inhabitant’s, to the Norman crown. Legend has it that the name “Ravello” (from Rebellum meaning Rebel), has its origin in the following event.  In the absence of Robert the Guiscard  (engagedin attack on Byzantine Emperor Alexis 1st ) the Amalfitani wished to seize the opportunity of overthrowing the Normans. The Ravellese, who refused the support their plan, further manifested their loyalty to Ruggiero by occupying the church of San Giovanni del Toro (Saint John of the Bull), The town defended  itself against enemy attacks – and against the Duchy – by the Pisans in 1135, while in 1137 it was forced to succumb to that same enemy. But wealth and enterprise of the local population were not destroyed and in fact local economy, along with its legal system, continued to make the town’s fortune. Here lived the famous Landolfo, of the Rufolo family, described by Boccaccio in his Decameron as an example of an expert and liberal merchant. Many examples of nobles with prestigious responsibilities at the Angevin court came from Ravello (master map-writers and navigators, coin-minters, tax collectors, imperial treasury custodians) as there were many merchants who made their fortune and created their own “districts” in the Puglia region. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Amalfi, which had become a fiefdom by will of Ladislaus of Durazzo in 1388, belonged to the Sanseverino, Colonna and Orsino families until it was passed to the Piccolomini family. The last descendant Maria D’Avalos (widow of Giovanni Piccolomini) put the property up for sale for 216 golden ducats in 1583, when the Coastal population purchased it to make it Royal Government Property. Over time, the town became a destination for many illustrious visitors, many of whom found inspiration here for their Arts. For others, it was simply a retreat, a place where they could enjoy the peace.

Thanks to two non-Italians, Francis Neville-Reid (who bought and transformed Villa Rufolo) and Lord Grimthorpe (who built Villa Cimbrone), many European cultural figures chose Ravello as a place of rest and inspiration: from Gide to Lawrence, from Foster (setting his work The Story of Panic in the wonderfully-described woods of the Monte Brusara) to Gregorovius, from Grieg to Wagner and to Garbo and Stokowsky in the last century. 

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