Real estate in Amalfi coast & Campania

• Italy’s most famous coast
• Stunning 320-mile shoreline
• Pompeii & Paestum ruins

Mention Campania and thoughts at once turn to Amalfi coast real estate. That’s understandable given that few other parts of the world can match the Amalfi coast and Capri, some 5km off the mainland, for their heady mix of sun, sea, sand and style. Little wonder that the world’s rich and famous have flocked to this part of Italy since Roman times.

Capri, with its elegant boutiques and breathtaking cliff-top roads, attracts more than 400,000 visitors a week in high season. Evidence of its wealth are never far away and this is one of the priciest areas in which to find property for sale in Italy. For a villa in Capri, for instance, prices can often start from €1.5million.

On the mainland, the pretty towns that line the Amalfi coast are linked by a road that is seemingly one dizzying hairpin bend after another, with a glorious view over the spectacular rocky cliffs and sea.

The resort of Sorrento is full of southern Italian charm; the town of Amalfi is a pretty tourist resort fringed by lemon trees; while Positano perches on a vertiginous cliff, as if all of its pretty pastel-coloured buildings are craning to gaze at the sea.

In the 1950s and 60s Positano rivalled Capri as a magnet for the world’s jetset. Author John Steinbeck sang its praises in the early 1950s when he said: “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. ”

Prices for Amalfi coast real estate can be somewhat high. For instance, a two-bedroom home a short walk from the centre of Positano can leave you with not much left from €1million. But there is immense rental potential, as much as €15,000 a month in high season, so your outlay pays for itself.

If you are prepared to sacrifice a sea view or proximity to the coast, taking a 10-minute drive inland from Positano can see similar property for sale in Amalfi costing up to a third less. Even cheaper property in Campania can be found if you venture 60km south of Amalfi to the Cilento Coast, stretching roughly from Paestum to Sapri, some 100km away. In between lie some 200 truly charming seaside villages and towns such as Agropoli, Castellabate and Casal Velino.

Another attraction of choosing property for sale in Amalfi or property in Campania is the fact that between the Amalfi and Cilento coasts are key cities such as Naples and the tourist attractions of Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum.

Campania also has a sprawling countryside that takes in the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, the Monti Picentini Regional Nature Park and the Partenio Regional Nature Park.