Itinerary 11 - WALLS AND GATES OF SORRENTO

Sorrento was a city defended by solid walls. On three sides were walls of typical grey tuff stone whilst the northern side had high cliffs defending it from the sea and a castle by the main entrance gate called the Porta del Piano, Porta di Sant’Antonino or Porta di Castello. Once over the bridge you entered through the gate with the statue of Saint Antonino on top which is now in the middle of Piazza Tasso.
The statue was positioned facing outwards as if welcoming visitors, and in fact popular belief has it that “Sant’Antonino loves foreigners”.
Once inside, on the right, was a castle probably built during the 15th century. This had a bell tower and a clock. The tower’s function was to warn of imminent danger, ringing the bell.
The castle and the gate met their end during the 19th century in the wake of major urban changes affecting the city of Torquato Tasso at the time. In fact, between the end of 1800 and the beginning of 1900, the gorge was filled in, unifying the centre of Sorrento with the area outside the walls.

From the end of 19th century, the alleyway of Santa Maria della Pietà, parallel to the present main thoroughfare of Corso Italia, was one of Sorrento’s main streets. In effect it was the Decumanus Minore connecting Piazzale del Castello to the Cathedral in an east-west direction. The churches Santa Maria della Pietà and San Catello stood along this road. Some of the most beautiful mansions of Sorrento were also built here, a few going back to the 12th century. Palazzo dei Correale and Palazzo Veniero are two excellent examples. Nowadays they still testify to the splendour and prestige of the Sorrentine families during the Middle Ages. A small turning off the main street into a dead end called "Vico Bagnagatte” is where you can admire one of the most beautiful ancient buildings of the city: the fifteenth century loggia, the only legacy from the 15th century.

With the construction of Corso Italia at the end of the 19th century, Vico della Pietà lost its status as an important thoroughfare. Already at the end of the century many of the buildings moved their entrances to the “new street of Sorrentine worldliness”. Walking along Vicolo della Pietà and looking around will take you back to the glories of that time.

Sorrento’s first cathedral was located outside the city walls near to where the present cemetery is, then during the 10th century it was transferred to the church of the Santi Felice e Baccolo whilst they finished building the present cathedral.
This was built on the remains of a pagan temple and completed in 1113. A 12th century document reports that Cardinal Riccardo de Albano consecrated the present building on 16th March 1113, dedicating it to the Virgin Maria in Heaven and to the apostles Phillip and the younger James.
Following the terrible invasion of the Turks in 1558, the cathedral was destroyed and completely rebuilt by Mons. Giulio Pavesi. In 1700 it was finally transformed into its present Baroque style by the Archbishops Didaco Petra and Filippo Anastasio.
The interior of the church is in the shape of a Latin cross, with three naves, separated by fourteen pillars and a flat ceiling, decorated with Baroque style canvases depicting Sorrentine martyrs and scenes from the Gospel.
Another symbol of the city of Sorrento, in addition to the 1500 episcopal palace, is without doubt the bell tower straddling the ancient Decumanus Minimus. It dates back to Byzantine era with Roman marble remains of various kinds at its base, including part of a Lombard epigraph. The top two stories of the bell tower with its majolica clock were added in 1700.

In architecture, the Palazzo del Sedile, or the Seat, was a building often found in some southern Italian cities where the council of the Nobles held meetings for the administration of the city. In Sorrento there were two Seats, the Sedile di Porta near the main square and the Sedil Dominova.
Both were located in Via San Cesareo on the old decumanus. The Sedil Dominova is one of the last remaining architectural testimonies of this kind of parliament in southern Italy. Although the seats were officially the face of democracy, the history of the Sedil Dominova was linked to a dispute between the various Sorrentine families.

In 1319, furious quarrels broke out at the meetings in the Sedile di Porta between several members of the Sorrento nobility, even to the point of resorting to arms. Once the diatribes were over, the noble families from the western part of Sorrento such as the Mastrogiudice,  the Sersale and the Vulcano, decided to abandon the Sedile di Porta and build a new one along Via San Cesareo, at the time the main street of Sorrento.
This Seat took the name of Domus Nova or Dominova.

In the 18th century its interiors were frescoed. In 1877 after five centuries of housing the meetings of the nobility, it became the seat of the Workers’ Society of Mutual Aid, as testified by an epigraph inside. Despite numerous restorations, the seat still maintains its original appearance.

Situated along the main decumanus of Sorrento, the fountain of the Schizzariello is one of the city’s symbols. According to popular myth, the fountain was originally in the centre of Largo Dominova. After the war it was moved about a hundred metres further on near the church of L’Addolorata. In fact, the correct location of the fountain is still the subject of arguments amongst the Sorrentines, but what is likely is that the name of the fountain, the “Schizzariello” (weak gush of water), gave its name to the entire area in front of it called “Miezz’ ‘o Schizzariello” (in the middle of the Schizzariello”). Even today all the locals call the little square overlooking the Sedil Dominova and most of Via San Cesareo with this name.

The fountain, which has always been known to the locals for the harmonious intertwining of its two marble dolphins, has been restored in recent years. For the restoration, images painted by Theodore Duclere in 1861 were copied positioning some decorations and a coat of arms in its upper part; the former had already disappeared in photos from 1890 and the coat of arms from the 1960s, presumably stolen.

Also known as the Church of the Vergine dei Sette Dolori di Sorrento because in ancient times it housed the homonymous Congregation. In spite of being located along one of the decumani in the town’s historical centre, it is in fact one of the most recent, dating back to the start of the 18th century.
The Sorrento nobility were keen for it to be built since they wanted their own headquarters for the Congregation.
After a long wait, during which the brotherhood were looking for somewhere suitable, they decided to buy some land and start building the church. It was finished in 1739.
From an architectural point of view, the church has an exquisite Baroque style. Inside you can admire a beautiful altar with a lovely eighteenth-century statue of the Madonna Addolorata dressed in black.
It has two side chapels and above their piperno altars you can admire two large canvases painted by the well-known artist Carlo Amalfi (1769), the first depicting the Holy Family, the second the Holy Trinity in Glory.

Despite its short history, the church has lived eventful years. On 8th October 1844, lightning struck the roof and caused the bell tower to collapse. Then, after the Unity of Italy, the bretherens were forced to dissolve the Brotherhood since they were all legitimists close to the Bourbons. Deconsecrated in 1868, an earthquake further damaged it in 1980. Closed for over 30 years, thanks to huge funding, the church has returned to splendour. Nowadays it often accommodates artistic initiatives and all kinds of exhibitions.

The Porta di Parsano is the southern and most recent gate of the city. It was in fact only built in 1745, after Signor Francesco degli Anastasii, the archbishop’s brother received permission to do so and finance the work. This privilege was given directly by D. Marino to the Correale family. The aim of the Anastasii family was to be able to reach some land they had purchased on the other side of the wall without having to go round its entire perimeter. It seems however that the Spanish reconstruction project already included a “war passage” which means that the “Porta degli Anastasii” was no more than a widening of the previous entrance.

Nevertheless, when excavations were carried out in 1921, what is presumed to be Greek walls came to light. This discovery proved the existence of a gate from earlier epochs. Just like the gate at Marina Grande, stone boulders were also found here, placed according to strict isodomic order suggesting that there were in fact already walls prior to the Roman period of the 1st century AD.

Almost at the end of the 19th century, the town council decided to find an area for the construction of a power plant for the city of Sorrento. The need for electricity was increasing hand in hand with the development of tourism and, consequently, within a few years, the first plant had been built and tested. The structure consisted of the actual power plant as well as a large adjacent building that housed the staff in charge and the offices. On the outside a furnace was built with an imposing 30 metres high chimney that can still be seen today. The aim of this plant was to illuminate the entire city, so streetlamps were installed along the main roads.
The water needed to operate the plant’s machinery came from the Neffola spring. This spring came from Capodimonte and was torrential in nature, so tanks were built to store the water during the summer months.

Nowadays it is a centre for the elderly.

Historically the development of all medieval fortifications follows the evolution of armaments. Considering that Sorrento was naturally protected, thanks to its position, by the high coast to the north and by the gorges on its western and eastern sides, the defence of the northern side was entrusted to imposing walls. These were interrupted by bastions and towers, the main elements of urban defence. In front of this section of the wall, an external moat was planned to hinder or slow down the advance of the enemy. The moat was filled in from the start of the 19th century, as a result of important urban developments in the city. The defence of the walls was entrusted to 4 ramparts that bore the names of 4 bishops and patron saints of Sorrento. The first was Bastion San Valerio, on the most western side, followed by Bastion Sant’ Antonino, which can still be visited inside; at the extremity of the next section was Bastion Sant’Attanasio also called “di Bagnagatti”, whilst finally, at the edge of the valley was Bastion San Renato.
All the ramparts were equipped with cannons and sentry boxes. During the last rebuilding, during the Spanish period in 1500, the architect followed the second rule for the distance of the ramparts: “that all parts of the fortifications should be within range of a musket’s shot”.

Also called Piazza Mercato (market), or “miez o mercato” (“in the middle of the market”), because that was where the city’s market used to be held. In May 1866 a law obliged the Municipalities to build an area specifically for a public market if there wasn’t already one. Initially the area chosen was in the present Viale Enrico Caruso, near Piazza Tasso. However, it didn’t last very long, since to have the market in the main square of a touristic city was considered inelegant and therefore another area was chosen. A priest, Andrea Veniero, donated to the Authorities some of his land adjacent to the Church dell’Annunziata and facing the new main road, and that is why it is called Piazza Veniero.
In the middle of the square a rectangular building was erected following the model of French markets such as Halles di Baltard. It consisted in a large one storey shed built with bricks, 7 metres high. Everything was protected by an iron cover under which fruit stalls and stalls of other produce were displayed. Wood was also sold, used by the blossoming Sorrentine industry of inlaid wood. Near the square the equipment for the “public weighbridge”, the so-called “bascuglia”, was interred. The wooden logs to be weighed were transported by horse-drawn carts, unloaded, placed on the scales and registered.
Starting in the ‘50s the market was moved elsewhere out of the historical centre.

This church is at the western end of the decumanus maximus of the ancient Surrentum, in the area where there was a temple dedicated to the Goddess Cybele (whose marble altar is kept in the Museo Correale, the town's museum).

The building of the temple is attributed to the Sorrento nobleman Giovanni Ammone between 1284 and 1299.

It was annexed to the monastery of the Padri Agostiniani (Augustinian Fathers) of the Congregazione di San Giovanni a Carbonaro di Napoli (Congregation of Saint John of Naples), the oldest religious house apart from the Benedictine Saint Renato outside the city walIs. According to the historian Giulio Capaccio (Historiae Neapoletanae, 1771), inside the church there was an ancient sepulchral inscription of 1341 for restoration work carried out by the noble Sorrento families.

In 1393 Isabella Sersale, niece of Pope Boniface IX, was buried here, but other Sorrento noble people were also buried here, as can be seen on the plaques in front of the altars that were patronised by the noble Sorrento families. In 1714 the church underwent radical architectural changes and in 1768 the Cardinal of Naples, Antonino Sersale, built at his own expense the façade in grey tufa, on which the family's coat of arms is still visible. In 1864, on the northern side of the church, the main street, Corso Italia, was constructed and took away a part of it. Following this transformation, the painting The Annunciation of Mary was taken down and put in the sacristy. The throne was placed near the 18th century statue of The Madonna with Child, whose festival is on the Sunday following that of Saint Augustine (28 August). The ceiling is painted on canvas with a centrally-placed painting by Filippo Andreoli (18th century), depicting the Madonna with Child, giving the sacred belt to Saint Augustine and other Augustinian saints. In the 1930s the side walls of the church were covered with mosaics and multi-coloured marble.

The temple of the Santissima Annunziata is also the site of the ancient Archconfraternity of Saint Monica.

The western gate San Baccolo was also called “della Potenza” or “Porta di Massa”. This name was due to its position which represented the entrance and exit for anyone coming to Sorrento from the present Municipality of Massa Lubrense. The gate was dedicated to Santo Baccolo, a Sorrentine bishop who lived in the 17th century AD. According to popular belief, his remains were buried in the gate itself, although an urn with his ashes are kept in the church dedicated to him.
The gate was an important link to the villages to the west of the city of Tasso. It was linked to the other side of the valley by a bridge. On top of the gate was a bust of the Saint which came to an uncertain end. Below it was the City’s ancient coat of arms that can be seen in the paintings of 19th century artists. The emblem is now kept in the Town Hall.

This is the road that follows the most western edge of the city walls running along part of them overlooking Marina Grande. For this reason, it has earned the ancient toponym “Ncoppa 'e muraglie” (“on top of the walls”). Apart from its walls and gates, another element that made Sorrento difficult to attack were of course its steep escarpments. Its very coast was one of its main defences. Confident of not being attacked here, the fortifications were less imposing, and the wall was much lower. Soldiers stationed in the city often walked along it during their guard shifts. This wall was called “della Manganella” (catapult) and had 2 bastions, one octangular still existent today and the other rectangular at its northern extremity.
From here you can enjoy a fantastic view of Marina Grande below, whilst to the west you can see a line of hotels built after the war along the edge of the rocky coast in the area of Capodimonte.

This is the oldest and best conserved of the City’s gates. Although it is not certain, some of its elements, such as the perfect isodomic construction, make us think that the gate was built in pre- Roman times. The blocks placed at the head and the sides follow an alternating pattern typical of buildings of Hellenic character to be found in other areas of the city.
It is also still possible to see that the gate had a double locking system following the curve of ascent. There is a legend about this gate, lost in Sorrento mythology. The 13th June 1558 was one of the darkest moments of modern history for the city of Sorrento. A fleet of around 100 Saracen ships, after having ransacked the hamlets of Massa Lubrense, sailed into the Bay of Sorrento. That night the “furies of the sea” managed to enter and plunder Sorrento, despite the massive walls, because the gate was opened by an Ottoman slave, in the service of the Correale family. According to the chronicles, the Correale family had custody of the 4 keys to the 4 gates and it seems that the slave stole the key to the northern gate, allowing the marauders to enter. The day of Sant’Antonio in1558 is still remembered by the local inhabitants of Massa Lubrense and Sorrento as one of the saddest in their history.

The picturesque village of Marina Grande is without any doubt the most well-known harbour of the city of Sorrento. Situated at the end of a gorge opening from a narrow inlet into the Bay of Naples, it has been the most important harbour of the city for centuries. Hence the name Marina Grande, whereas the touristic port Marina Piccola was only completed in the early 1900s. Nowadays you will find here many typical restaurants serving fish, but not only.

Marina Grande, has always had a long tradition of ship building, comparable to that of the nearby municipalities Piano and Meta. In particular, in this small bay, the famous “Gozzi Sorrentini” are still produced today.  Historic shipyards and shipwrights are still at work, producing the “gozzi”, symbol of local boaters.
This picturesque location became even more famous in 1955, when Dino Risi decided to film some scenes of the famous film “Scandal in Sorrento (“Pane, Amore e ...”) here with Sofia Loren and Vittorio de Sica. The small church of Sant’Anna protects the little village. Saint Anna is deeply revered by the local inhabitants and on 26th July of each year, great celebrations are organised in her honour which involve the entire Sorrento community and culminate in a wonderful firework display.

In recent times this area was called “Largo Prospetto” or “ ‘mmont ‘o Prospiett”. The entire area was part of the garden of the Monastery of San Paolo. Following several days of torrential rain, the city walls containing part of this garden collapsed onto the avenue leading to Marina Grande below. The then Mayor of Sorrento, Guglielmo Tramontano, expropriated part of the nuns’ garden to dedicate a square to Torquato Tasso, who was born in an adjacent building.

After the First World War however, it was deemed necessary to build a monument in the square to commemorate the victims of the war. The imposing statue of the Winged Victory was the result and can still be seen there today.

Nowadays the square is called Piazza della Vittoria, but it is still known by the locals as “ ‘O Prospiett’ “ or “ Abbasc ‘O Monumento “(Down at the Monument).

The history of the oldest and most famous hotel in Sorrento is inextricably linked to the Tramontano family. Pasquale Tramontano, who moved to Sorrento at the end of the 18th century, was the first member of the family to start a hotel business and who, with the help of his son William, managed in a few decades to create one of the most consolidated realities of Sorrentine hospitality.  The current structure was born from the union of several villas: Villa Strongoli - Pignatelli and Villa Laurito - Mastrogiudice. The latter, nowadays still called “Hotel du Tasso”, was where the Sorrentine poet Torquato Tasso was born in 1544.

The fortune of the Hotel Tramontano has grown hand in hand with the development of tourism in Sorrento, consecrated thanks to its many illustrious guests.

The Prince of Wales, (the future king Eduard VII), and Prince Federico and the Princess of Prussia stayed there in 1862, and in 1868 the Queen of Denmark was also a guest. In 1868, the Tsarina of Russia with an entourage of 200 people stayed there for two whole months. It was after this visit that the Hotel Tramontano added the title “Imperial” to its name.

However, the event that still resonates in the heart of all Sorrentines was when, on 15th September 1902, during the visit of Giuseppe Zanardelli, the notes of “Torna a Surriento”, written by the poet and artist G. Battista De Curtis, were heard for the first time on the hotel’s terrace.

The construction of the Church of San Francesco was promoted by the Order of Franciscan friars in the place where around the year 600 the abbot Sant’Antonino had already founded an oratory dedicated to San Martino, the Bishop of Tours, overlooking the sea.

The jewel in the crown of this complex is the ancient Benedictine cloister that blends the original features of the 1300s with features from successive eras.

A small oasis of peace and serenity, it is without doubt one of the places most visited by people strolling through Sorrento. The cloister has some architectural peculiarities. All the decorations on the vaults of the arches belong to relics from pagan temples and other ancient settlements.

This is the reason why arcades of tuff arches alternate with round arches resting on octagonal columns surmounted by capitals, each one different from the other.

As well as being a special place for lovers of art and culture, the Sorrento Cloister is in a prime position for civil and international weddings.

The Villa Comunale is the symbol of the renewed touristic identity of the city of Sorrento during the second half of the 19th century. It was designed by the engineer Enrico Smith and created in the garden of the former convent of S. Francesco. The use of this garden was firstly entrusted to Hotel Tramontano, but in 1876 the local authorities revoked the concession in order to commence work on transforming it into a public garden.  

In the first years after its inauguration, the park was only open during the day in the winter months, whilst in the summer it was also open in the evenings to create a point of interest for the numerous tourists present in Sorrento.

The symmetry of the tree-lined avenue and the flowerbeds reflects the English canons of the time. Inside the Villa are 3 marble busts. The first one is of Francesco Saverio Gargiulo, a distinguished magistrate, lecturer and head of the Secretariat of the Presidency of the Italian Council of Ministers; the second is of Bartolomeo Capasso, a well-known Italian archivist to whom the municipal library is also dedicated; the third is of Salve d’ Esposito to whom the park is dedicated (as shown at the entrance gate). The latter, a Neapolitan composer and orchestra conductor, is remembered for having composed the piece “Anema e Core”.

The entrance to Marina Piccola was closed by a gate. Although it was a minor port for the city, shipbuilding and commercial activities were flourishing even before the construction of today’s touristic port, completed in 1929. The steps going down to Marina Piccola were cut along the side of the cliff and full of spontaneous vegetation.

At the gate at the top was a clearing called “di Sopra Mare” (above the sea) where the fishermen used to go to check the marina below.

However, the need to make the original winding lane down to Marina Piccola suitable for traffic, was already felt at the end of the 19th century when, with numerous resolutions, the construction of the present Via Luigi De Maio went ahead. During this period, communications with Naples by sea intensified. Citrus fruit, dairy products, fish and various products from local artisans were the main exports.

The only evidence nowadays of the time when this was an important means of access to the city is a small chapel dedicated to Santa Maria del Soccorso.

The Basilica of Sant’Antonino, together with Sorrento Cathedral, is the main place of worship of the town.

It was built in the 11th century on the same place as a previous, small oratory dedicated to Sant’Antonino.

The basilica has three naves, divided by twelve columns of different kinds of marble coming from buildings in Sorrento during the Greek-Roman era.   

Inside the church are paintings and altars of inestimable value.

The most visited part of the Basilica is however the Crypt, commonly called “del Soccorpo”. There you can admire six canvases painted by the Sorrentine artist Carlo Amalfi depicting the patron saints of Sorrento: four bishops San Renato, San Valerio, Sant'Attanasio and San Bacolo and a further two saints, San Gennaro of Naples and San Nicola of Bari.

At the centre of the crypt is the altar, on which the statue of the Saint is placed. Behind it is a silver-plated perennial oil lamp that visitors touch, reciting a prayer in memory of one the Saint’s famous miracles, for which he is much loved by the Sorrentines. As testimony to his most famous miracle, you can see the rib of a cetacean on the facade, a reminder of when the Saint saved a child who had been swallowed by a whale. Of considerable importance and value are the votives left for the Saint by the faithful for the graces received. 

Prior to the building of the road Luigi De Maio in 1898, Via Sant’Antonino was the main connection between the Basilica and the castle. The road is very narrow and runs along a stretch almost on the eastern boundary of the city walls, leading to Piazza Sant’Antonino where there is a wide area with a marble statue of the Saint in its centre, built in 1866.

The fountain of Sant’Antonino is located here today. In ancient times it was situated in a wide space in front of the castle. It was moved here in 1873 and erected on the edge of the ravine to save and preserve it from the profound transformation that the present centre of Piazza Tasso was undergoing.

However, the present fountain seems quite different from the one appearing in the paintings. In all likelihood, when it was installed, they decided to preserve just some of the marble of the original magnificent version, damaged during its removal from the parapet of the Valley of the Mills.