Positano

Positano
Comune
Comune di Positano
View of Positano at sunset
Positano within the Province of Salerno
Positano Location of Positano in Italy
Coordinates: 40°38′N 14°29′E / 40.633°N 14.483°E / 40.633; 14.483
Country	Italy
Region	Campania
Province / Metropolitan city	Salerno (SA)
Frazioni	Montepertuso, Nocelle
Government
• Mayor	Michele De Lucia
Area
• Total	8 km2 (3 sq mi)
Elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population (31 December 2010)
• Total	3,983
• Density	500/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Positanesi
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	84017
Dialing code	089
Patron saint	San Vito
Saint day	June 15
Website	Official website

Positano is a village and comune on the Amalfi Coast (Costiera Amalfitana), in Campania, Italy, mainly in an enclave in the hills leading down to the coast.

Positano was a port of the Amalfi Republic in medieval times, and prospered during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the town had fallen on hard times. More than half the population emigrated, mostly to America.

Positano was a relatively poor fishing village during the first half of the twentieth century. It began to attract large numbers of tourists in the 1950s, especially after John Steinbeck published his essay about Positano in Harper's Bazaar in May, 1953: "Positano bites deep", Steinbeck wrote. "It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone."

The church of Santa Maria Assunta features a dome made of majolica tiles as well as a thirteenth-century Byzantine icon of a black Madonna. According to local legend, the icon had been stolen from Byzantium and was being transported by pirates across the Mediterranean. A terrible storm had blown up in the waters opposite Positano and the frightened sailors heard a voice on board saying "Posa, posa!" ("Put down! Put down!"). The precious icon was unloaded and carried to the fishing village and the storm abated.

Positano has been featured in several films, including Only You (1994), and Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), as well as more recently in Kath & Kimderella (2012) and being mentioned in the 2009 musical film Nine in the song "Cinema Italiano". It also hosts the annual Cartoons on the Bay Festival, at which Pulcinella Awards for excellence in animation are presented.