eNewsHound

Perhaps you’ve rented a DVD copy of the movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun,” and taken a look at the beauty of Positano, Italy, a small city whose history stretches back into Medieval times. In those days, the city was a port for the Amalfi Republic, and the town did well, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, but by the middle of the 1800s, the town faltered, with half the population emigrating largely to Australia.

In the early part of the 20th Century, Positano was a simple fishing village, but after American author John Steinbeck glowingly wrote about the town as “a dream place,” the Positano hotels became a destination for tourists; it’s a spot where artists and celebrities have gone to vacation. It was home to singer-songwriter Shawn Phillips , who helped define what folk rock was in the 1960s and also developed progressive new age rock in the 1970s. Most of his best songs were written here. Even Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones wrote here, composing “Midnight Rambler” in the town’s cafes. Today, the town is known primarily for tourism, with charm as the principle draw.

If you decide to escape from the rest of the world and relax on Positano’s beaches or sip espressos in its cafes, take a look, too, at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta , which contains a dome made of majolica tiles and an icon of a black Madonna created in the 13th Century.

The legend in Positano regarding the icon tales a tale of theft, where pirates stole the icon from Byzantium and brought it across the Mediterranean sea. When a horrific storm hit the boat near Positano, the scared sailors heard a voice onboard that repeated the word, “Posa,” or “Put down!” and so they took the icon and carried it to the fishing village. Once they did, according to legend, the storm stopped. Chances are good that the skies will be clear and the seas calm when you’ve arrived, too, enabling you to take full advantage of this engaging place.