SALERNO CRUISE

Capital of Campania’s southernmost province, the lively port of Salerno will provide a stop-off on your MSC cruise of the Mediterranean. Much less chaotic than Naples, it is well off most travellers’ itineraries, giving it a pleasant, relaxed air to enjoy during your excursion. Salerno’s town centre is a slightly odd mixture of wide, not overwhelmingly characterful boulevards and a small medieval core full of intriguingly dark corners and alleys. It is, however, a lively, sociable place, with a busy seafront boulevard and plenty of nightlife and shops.
The old quarter’s main street is Via dei Mercanti, a narrow stretch which snakes through the heart of the centre and has been spruced up quite a lot over recent years. Highlight of Salerno is its Duomo, an enormous church dedicated to St Matthew.
Set in a wide cleft in the cliffs, Amalfi is the largest town and perhaps the highlight of the coast west of Salerno. It was one of the great naval powers; the town was devastated by an earthquake in 1343, but Amalfi still hosts the odd remnant of its past glories today, with a crumbly attractiveness to its whitewashed courtyards and alleys that makes it fun to wander through.