The most important monument in the town is the the church of St. Giovanni Battista, built in the 10th century, with its dome covered with majolica ceramics. As a matter of fact, Vietri is especially famous for its century-old tradition of handmade ceramics tiles, dishes and objects, and many of its visitors are attracted by this peculiar shopping opportunity. In Vietri ceramics and pottery are everywhere. You can wander around the town and learn countless details about local daily life – today and in the past – from the scenes painted on ceramics. This local form of art, characterized by decoration that reproduces the bright vivid colours of the Amalfi coast, is part of Vietri tradition since centuries.
One famous example of such tradition is the floor of the ancient library in the Padula Charterhouse. In more recent time, local ceramics art was revived by the contact with German artists (Richard Dolker, in particular) who moved to the Amalfi Coast in the first half of the XX century. The dozens of ceramics shops in Vietri today sell objects of any kind, including dishes, flower pots, cups and glasses for “limoncello”, lanterns and ashtrays, amphorae and ornaments. E few typical examples of this stile are reported in the pictures below.