What is Cetara known for?

Amber anchovy sauce aged in chestnut barrels, descended from Roman garum and revived by local monks; DOP since 2020. The Amalfi Coast's last working tuna and anchovy fleet, based in the small port; few of the Italian coast's traditional purse-seine boats remain. Sixteenth-century coastal watchtower rebuilt after the 1534 Saracen sack, now the village civic museum of the costaioli painters.

Cetara is a comune in the province of Salerno, Campania region of Italy, about 12 kilometers from Salerno.

Campania · Salerno

Cetara

The Amalfi Coast's working tuna and anchovy port, where colatura di alici is still aged in chestnut barrels in the cellars behind the marina.

12 km / 7 mi

Nearest hub (Salerno)

1,967

Population

May–Sep

Best time to visit

Recognised as

UNESCO

Why come

Cetara sits at the eastern end of the Amalfi Coast on a narrow inlet between Vietri sul Mare and Maiori, 17 kilometers from Salerno. Saracen pirates established a base here in 879 AD and made repeated raids west along the coast; in 1534 the corsair Sinan Pasha sacked the village and took roughly 300 inhabitants as slaves to North Africa. The viceregal watchtower above the beach, Torre di Cetara, was rebuilt in the 16th century as part of the coastal defense system commissioned from Naples; it now holds the civic museum of local painters known as the costaioli. Cetara remains the working fishing village of the coast, with a tuna and anchovy fleet still based in the small port. Colatura di alici, the amber anchovy sauce descended from Roman garum and revived in the Middle Ages by local monks, is still aged in chestnut barrels in the cellars; it received DOP status in 2020. The Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo on the marina, with its yellow majolica dome, is the visual signature of the village.

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Gallery

9 photos · scroll →

Known for

Torre Vicereale
Sixteenth-century viceregal watchtower rebuilt after the 1534 Saracen sack, restored in 2011 and now holding the civic museum of the costaioli painters.
Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo
Ninth-century parish church on the marina rebuilt in Baroque style, with a yellow majolica dome that signs the village from the sea.
Convento di San Francesco
Fourteenth-century Franciscan convent above the port, with a small cloister and a sea-facing terrace, now used for civic events.
Marina di Cetara
Working fishing harbor at the foot of the village, base of the surviving tuna and anchovy fleet, with a small beach to either side of the breakwater.

When to visit

Best months · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May, June, September and October are the months Cetara reads best. The fleet runs daily, the festivals around the colatura and the tuna catch land in the warm shoulders, and the SS163 between Vietri and Maiori is open without high-summer queues. July and August fill the small marina and the pebble beaches to either side of the breakwater. November through March is quieter: many of the small restaurants on the seafront close, the fleet keeps reduced winter hours, and the cellars finish aging the year's colatura. The Festa di San Pietro on 29 June is the patron feast, marked by a maritime procession from the marina.