Amalfi Coast Geography & Climate

The coast is the seaward face of the Lattari mountains, limestone rising to almost 1,450 metres at Monte Faito and dropping to the water in a few kilometres. There is effectively no coastal plain: the towns occupy river mouths, rock ledges and the floors of steep ravines.

Those ravines — valloni — are the coast’s organising feature. Amalfi and Atrani each sit at the bottom of one, which is why they are a few hundred metres apart and feel entirely separate. The Valle delle Ferriere above Amalfi is deep and damp enough to hold a relict population of ferns from a wetter climatic era.

Beaches are small, mostly shingle, and usually at the foot of a stair. Furore has a fjord-like inlet where a stream cut a slot through the cliff. Offshore to the west lie the Li Galli islets; Capri is visible from most of the western coast.

The terraces are the largest human structure here: dry-stone walls carrying lemon groves up slopes too steep to farm otherwise, maintained by hand because no machine can reach them.

The coast faces south and is backed by mountains, which shelters it from northerly weather and makes it noticeably milder than its latitude alone would suggest. Summer highs sit in the high twenties to low thirties Celsius, with little rain between June and August.

Winters are mild and wet — generally ten to fifteen degrees in the day — with most of the year’s rain from October to March. Frost is rare at sea level; the ridge behind can be a different matter entirely.

Two practical points. Heavy winter rain on steep terraced ground causes landslides, and the coast road closes for them from time to time. And in summer the heat is worse on the road than on the water, which is another argument for the ferries.