COLLEGIATA of S MARIA MADDALENA PENITENTE
        Built on the ruins of an ancient small fort , it was erected in 1274 to give thanks to the Saint who had liberated Atrani from the occupation by the mercenaries of Manfred ...

         With the passing centuries the building has had many alterations and the façade is according to Schiavo "the only example of Rococo on the Amalfi Coast...Worthy of note the bell-tower in black tufa ... On the inside: the beautiful main altar adorned with three panels portraying S.Maria Maddalena between SS. Andrea & Sebastiano, work of Giovan Angelo D'Uva di Maiori, a Pipe Organ and enhancing the Chapels of the Patrons , many paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries... A breathtaking view from the colonnade in front of the Church: "it dominates the Gulf of Salerno just like the belvedere of Villa Cimbrone "( at Ravello ) Schiavo...

         One should not be surprise by the effect this glimpse of Paradise has on famous visitors who have passed here, who in immortal verses find " the paradise lost for a long time" ( Alfonso Gatto) and who experimented: time to talk about 

M. C. Escher...

          Mauritius Cornelius Escher arrived on the Coast of Amalfi in 1923 , starting a true" Italian period ".
The artist between 1923 and 1935 sojourned and travelled on the Coast , creating 110 works that he defined " more or less practical exercises" ...but that were the ground work for the great artistic period between 1930 and 1940. 

         "Down there I had the bizarre ideas of birds, fish, sky and water "... "Down there " , the magic world of Escher was born. The works portray all the coast but Atrani held a special fascination for the artist: "the Village " as he called it, it attracted him for the magic atmosphere of the alley-ways and labyrinths, the play of light , the architecture "Forms in space".

         " Atrani, Costa di Amalfi " of 1931 was born, also the "Metamorphosi "of 1939 and a painting of 1940 that is on exhibition in the Hague , in the General Direction of the Dutch Postal Service...

          Descending the important steps , a few metres along the main road brings us back to the square, where after our fill of nature and art , we can relax at the pretty tables of the bars to eat one of the delicious typical cakes , "O' Bocconotto" a small covered tart of custard and cherry , good enough to eat in one mouthful ( the meaning of the name in Italian ) ; "O'Pasticciotto" a even more pantagruelian version of the former ; the delicious "Cassate Atranesi"... accompanied by the ever present Limoncello...

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