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If you’re after property for sale on the Amalfi coast, Positano takes some beating.
Positano, this breathtakingly beautiful, scenic town on Italy’s Campania coast, appears to be built entirely on a vertiginous cliff, almost as if all of Positano is craning to gaze at the sandy beaches and crystal blue sea.
The kaleidoscope of pastel colours – peach, terracotta, pink, primrose and white – that characterises the houses, homes, apartments, villas and other property on the Amalfi coast’s most picturesque town makes it as pretty as a postcard.
In 1953, legendary author John Steinbeck gushed: “Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone. ”
For a while during that period, Positano, once little more than a sleepy fishing village, rivalled Capri as a mecca for the world’s jetset. Today, more than half a century later, its beauty is no less awe-inspiring.
Little wonder that Talented Mr Ripley novelist Patricia Highsmith based her fictional port town of Mongibello on Positano.
Property for sale on the Amalfi coast
Little wonder too, that many people seeking property for sale in Campania or property for sale in the Amalfi area are drawn to Positano.
As this stretch of the Amalfi coast is one of the most sought after in Italy – and frequently described as among the most beautiful in the world – prices can be somewhat high, especially as there is fierce demand for what properties come on the market.
A two-bedroom apartment within walking distance of the centre of Positano can leave you with not much change from €900,000.
Then again, rental income can often top €15,000 a month in high season, so your outlay begins to pay for itself in no time. Additionally, the vertiginous lie of the land inhibits overdevelopment, which helps to protect your investment.
However, there are affordable homes and other properties to buy in the Amalfi area, especially if you venture slightly inland. Just 10 minutes’ drive away, on the outskirts of Positano, the same property can cost €300,000 less.
Positano, nestled at the heart of the Amalfi coast, lies south of Naples, one hour and 15 minutes by road along clifftop roads with a magnificent view over the Tyrrhenian Sea. It’s not the easiest of drives and the road is full of nausea-inducing hairpin bends, so many visitors prefer to take a train from Naples to Sorrento and a bus from there.
In any case, the best way to see Positano is on foot as most of the town is pedestrianised, a series of steep cobbled streets linked by steps. The streets, filled with flowers, are a delight to explore on foot.
And when you’ve worn out one set of shoes, you’re in the perfect place to buy another. Because Positano has a thriving shoe and sandal industry and it’s possible to have footwear made to measure while you wait.
Even better, while the shoemaker is hammering and stitching away, why not relax on a bar overlooking the sea and relax with some limoncello, a local alcoholic speciality made from the lemons that grow abundantly on the Amalfi coast?
As well as footwear, Positano is full of shops selling colourful fashions, pottery and inexpensive trinkets. There are also designer boutiques to be found.
And when you fancy a dip in the sea or just stretching out on the beach, that’s just a few minutes walk away – at the other end Positano’s only main street or, alternatively, the winding steps known, for obvious and energy-sapping reasons, as the Thousands Steps.
Plenty to see in the surrounding areas as well. If you have time, take a trip up to Montepertuso, for one, a picturesque village a couple of miles further inland, as well as Praiano, a few miles east along the coast. On the other side of Praiano is the dizzyingly steep Furore Gorge.
Additionally, ferry services link Positano to Amalfi, Capri and Naples. And definitely not to be missed is a trip to the ruins of Pompei, 45 minutes away by road.
How to get there:
There are daily direct international flights to Naples. Then a train to Sorrento followed by a CITA bus to Positano. If you are driving from Naples, the journey to Positano takes about 1hr 15mins. |
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