Filming locations in Amalfi Coast

The Amalfi Coast hardly needs a film to justify the trip, but The Talented Mr. Ripley gave it one anyway. Anthony Minghella's 1999 thriller set its fictional resort of Mongibello against the real southern-Italian light, and the most vertiginous of its backdrops is Positano, the pastel village that tumbles to the sea here.

Positano is the heart of it. The houses stacked down the cliff to the beach capture exactly the glamorous Mediterranean idleness the film trades on, all sun, sea and quiet menace. There is no single set to tick off; the village itself is the location, best absorbed slowly as you wind down its staircases to the water.

Because the place is essentially one long cascade of steps, plan around the climb. Arrive early or come by ferry to dodge the worst of the crowds and the parking, and treat the descent to the beach as the day's main walk. Boats also make Positano the obvious base for the wider coast.

Stretch the trip beyond the village and the rewards keep coming. The Path of the Gods, one of Italy's great clifftop trails, starts in the hills above town, and the ferries that link Positano to Amalfi turn Capri into an easy day trip across the water.