DUOMO DI SANT'ANDREA

"Art is the place where we encounter mystery, because the beauty of created things arouses nostalgia for God" (John Paul II, Letter to Artists) (John Paul II, Letter to Artists).

Duomo. The architectural symbol of the town and the entire Amalfi coast, built at the top of an imposing staircase, the Duomo is dedicated to St. Andrew, patron saint of Amalfi. Founded in 987, successive alterations gave it its current Baroque interior, while its facade, streaked with polychrome marble and adorned with mosaics, dates back to a ^19th-century restructuring in the Amalfi Romanesque style. Note the Romanesque campanile, built between 1180 and 1276, with Arab influences and decorated with green and yellow majolica. Admire the splendid bronze Byzantine door, cast in Constantinople in the ^11th century, with Christ, the Virgin, Sant'Andrea and San Pietro.

Cloister of Paradise. Access from the atrium, to the left of the Duomo. The cloister was built in 1266 by Archbishop Augustariccio in the Amalfi Romanesque style, with Moorish and Byzantine influences, as a burial place for the local aristocracy. Linger over the structure, with its intertwined arches resting on more than a hundred marble columns. Note the astonishing play of light. In the center, a beautiful garden with fountain. See also the lapidary rooms with sarcophagi from various periods. Along the ambulatory, several chapels are decorated with frescoes: the Crucifixion in the homonymous chapel is attributed to Roberto d'Oderisio, a major exponent of the Giottesque style in ^14th-century Naples, while the rest of the chapel's pictorial decoration dates back to the ^17th century.

Basilica of the Crucifix and Diocesan Museum. The cloister leads to the Basilica of the Crucifix, Amalfi's first cathedral and home to the Diocesan Museum. Built in the ^9th century on an ancient Paleochristian edifice, it now adjoins the Duomo. Remodeled in the Baroque style, it was restored to its original Romanesque style in 1994, which also brought to light the remains of frescoes along the walls and in the chapels. In the museum, admire the Angevin mitre (late ^13th century) and its precious stones, the Chinese sedan chair (^18th century), the Golden Fleece necklace and silver coins from the Neapolitan School.

Crypt. This is where the relics of St. Andrew are kept. The saint's bones produce a substance known as manna, which is said to have the power to cure disease.