What is Sorrento known for?

Torquato Tasso, author of Gerusalemme Liberata, born here in 1544 and baptized in the cathedral; Piazza Tasso holds his statue. Lemon liqueur made from the femminello sorrentino IGP lemons grown on terraces above the town, the local industry that anchors most centro storico shops. On 13 June 1558 Ottoman forces under Dragut breached the cliff walls and carried off two thousand inhabitants; the new walls were rebuilt in stages after that.

Sorrento is a comune in the province of Napoli, Campania region of Italy, about 49 kilometers from Napoli.

Campania · Napoli

Sorrento

The Roman Surrentum on a tuff cliff above the Bay of Napoli, birthplace of Torquato Tasso, sacked by the Turks in 1558.

49 km / 30 mi

Nearest hub (Napoli)

15,407

Population

May–Sep

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Bandiera Blu

Why come

Sorrento sits at fifty meters on a block of tuff cliff fifty meters above the Bay of Napoli, thirty kilometers from the city by Circumvesuviana railway or ferry. The town began as a Greek foundation, became the Roman Surrentum, a resort favored by senators, and survived a Turkish sack on 13 June 1558 under Dragut that breached the cliff walls and carried off two thousand inhabitants. The current population is 15,407. Torquato Tasso, author of the Gerusalemme Liberata, was born here in 1544 and baptized in the cathedral; Piazza Tasso, the main square, holds his statue. The Duomo, eleventh-century in origin and rebuilt in the fifteenth in Romanesque style, sits a few minutes from the Chiostro di San Francesco, a fourteenth-century cloister with tuff arches and a marble façade redone in 1926. The Museo Correale di Terranova holds Neapolitan porcelain and decorative arts. Marina Grande, the old fishing district below the cliff, still has the Greek gate and the working harbor. Lemon groves on the surrounding terraces feed the limoncello industry that anchors much of the local commerce.

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Gallery

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Known for

Duomo di Sorrento
Eleventh-century cathedral rebuilt in Romanesque style in the fifteenth century, with a baroque interior and the baptistery where Torquato Tasso was christened in 1544.
Chiostro di San Francesco
Fourteenth-century cloister of tuff arches and crossed columns, the marble façade redone in 1926, still used for civic weddings and chamber concerts.
Museo Correale di Terranova
Decorative arts museum in a seventeenth-century villa opened in 1924, with Neapolitan porcelain, period furniture and seventeenth-century painting.
Piazza Tasso
Main square at the head of the centro storico, with the statue of Torquato Tasso, the church of Carmine and the start of Corso Italia.
Marina Grande
Old fishing district below the cliff, reached through the ancient Greek gate, with seafood trattorie facing the bay and the harbor still active.
Lemon groves of the Sorrentine peninsula
Terraced groves on the slopes above town, source of the femminello sorrentino IGP lemons used in local limoncello production.

Signature product

Limone di Sorrento IGPIGP

The sfusato sorrentino lemon, large, fragrant, traditionally trained on chestnut-wood pergolas above the cliffs.

See every town in our catalogue producing Limone di Sorrento IGP.

When to visit

Best months · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May, June, September and October are the months that work for Sorrento. The sea is warm enough to swim, the temperatures sit in the mid-twenties, and the centro storico is busy without being unworkable. July and August are crowded almost beyond use. Day-tripper traffic from Napoli, Capri and the Amalfi coast fills Piazza Tasso through the day. November through March is quiet and often rainy; many lemon-grove restaurants close on weekdays, and several smaller hotels shut for two to three months. The Sant'Antonino patronal festival falls on 14 February, with the saint's statue paraded through the town. Lemons stay on the trees from February into May.