Built over the ruins of a 1st-century Roman villa destroyed by the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption, the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta safeguards a 12th-century Byzantine icon of the Virgin. Legend claims a becalmed ship was saved when a voice cried "Posa, posa" (Put down, put down), prompting sailors to leave the icon on the shore. While lore says the painting was later found in a broom bush, historical records indicate Benedictine monks brought it here. Documented as early as 994, the 8th-century monastic complex was initially dedicated to San Vito before Bishop Giovanni II of Amalfi consecrated it to Mary in 1159. The abbey suffered significant decline over the centuries: Saracen raids forced Abbot Antonio Acciappaccia to flee to Cava in 1440. Later entrusted to secular abbots, including the future Pope Benedict XIII, the church fell into such disrepair that in 1711, Bishop Michele Bologna stripped its materials to restore Amalfi's cathedral. A total reconstruction in 1777–1778 added side aisles and Baroque stuccoes, leading to the icon's golden coronation by Bishop Antonio Puoti in 1783. The interior was later updated in the late 19th century and adapted to Vatican II standards in the 1970s.
What to see
Rebuilt in 1926–1927 by Michele Chioccarelli, the Trani marble facade features a polychrome glass rose window and three portals, the central one cast in bronze with a lowered tympanum. Its vertical design entirely hides the dome, which is clad in striking green, blue, and yellow majolica tiles and topped with a conical lantern. Inside, the Latin-cross layout features three naves divided by round arches on square Ionic pillars. The central nave is covered by a lunetted barrel vault constructed using the local *camera a canne* technique. The entrance is flanked by marble stoups carved with Virgin and Child reliefs and topped by a choir loft holding a 2000 organ. The 1889 marble floor displays a star pattern in the presbytery. The aisles host eight interconnecting chapels: the left side includes San Nicola di Bari (featuring an 18th-century Neapolitan nativity scene), San Vito (housing a 16th-century silver and wooden bust), the Annunziata, and the Crocifisso, terminating with a 16th-century painting of Christ carrying the cross. The right aisle comprises the chapels of San Biagio, Immacolata, Sant'Antonio, and Sant'Anna, leading to a square-vaulted sacristy. The transept holds Fabrizio Santafede’s 1599 "Circumcision", a "Madonna del Carmine" painting, and a 1781 wooden pulpit resting on a pillar beneath the triumphal arch, which bears Positano's carved wooden coat of arms. The 1740 main altar, designed as an Ionic temple aedicule, enshrines the Byzantine icon. The polygonal apse contains a walnut choir, a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, and Michele Trillocco’s 1798 "Christ at the column".
Visiting
The rectangular churchyard doubles as a panoramic terrace with direct views of the beach below. Inside the church, near the presbytery altar, you can spot a surviving fragment of the medieval mosaic floor. The transept also preserves a 1506 bas-relief—possibly a reliquary of San Vito—and a 1600 plaque honoring Abbot Pirro Giovanni Campanile. The Roman villa over which the church stands was historically rediscovered in 1758.
Our editors' tip
Because the tall 20th-century marble facade completely blocks the view of the dome from the churchyard, head down to the beach to fully appreciate the vivid majolica tiles and the conical lantern against the skyline.