Editing Amalfi (section)

==History==
{{see also|Duchy of Amalfi}}
[[File:View of Amalfi.JPG|thumb|left|View of Amalfi.]]

Amalfi began as a maritime power, trading grain from its neighbours, salt from Sardinia and slaves from the interior, and even timber, in exchange for the [[gold]] [[dinar]]s minted in [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]], in order to buy the [[Byzantine silk]]s that it resold in the West. Grain-bearing Amalfi traders enjoyed privileged positions in the Islamic ports, [[Fernand Braudel]] notes. The [[Amalfian Laws|Amalfi tables]] (''{{Interlanguage link multi|Tavole amalfitane|it}}'') provided a maritime code that was widely used by the Christian port cities. Merchants of Amalfi were using gold coins to purchase land in the 9th century, while most of Italy worked in a [[barter]] economy. During the late 9th century, long-distance trade revived between Amalfi and [[Gaeta]] with [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]], the latter which benefited from a flourishing trade network with the Arabs.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Thomas |title=The Oxford History of Medieval Europe |last2=Holmes |first2=George |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1988 |location=Great Britain |pages=27 |language=en}}</ref> Karl Marx in "The German Ideology" acknowledged the role of Amalfi in the very beginning of European mercantile Capitalism. 

An independent republic from the 7th century until 1073, Amalfi extracted itself from Byzantine vassalage in 839<ref>Barbara M. Kreutz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=P-ucSSZrJ0YC&pg=PA81 Before the Normans – Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517104553/https://books.google.com/books?id=P-ucSSZrJ0YC&pg=PA81 |date=17 May 2016 }}'', p. 81</ref> and first elected a duke in 958; it rivalled [[Pisa]] and [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]] in its domestic prosperity and maritime importance before the rise of the [[Republic of Venice]]. In spite of some devastating setbacks it had a population of some 70,000 to 80,000 reaching a peak about the turn of the millennium, during the reign of [[Manso I, Duke of Amalfi|Duke Manso]] (966–1004).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVUvAczJgsYC&pg=PT910|title=501 Must-Visit Destinations|isbn=9780753722145 |access-date=30 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426152940/https://books.google.com/books?id=zVUvAczJgsYC&pg=PT910|archive-date=26 April 2016|url-status=live|last1=Brown |first1=D. |last2=Brown |first2=J. |last3=Findlay |first3=A. |date=15 October 2007 |publisher=Octopus }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cg7JYZO_nEMC&pg=PA161|title=Cities and Economic Development|isbn=9780226034669 |access-date=30 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722195346/http://books.google.com/books?id=Cg7JYZO_nEMC&pg=PA161|archive-date=22 July 2014|url-status=live|last1=Bairoch |first1=Paul |year=1988 |publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC&pg=PA270|title=Urban World History|isbn=9782760522091 |access-date=30 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521160721/https://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC&pg=PA270|archive-date=21 May 2016|url-status=live|last1=Tellier |first1=Luc-Normand |year=2009 }}</ref><ref name=Catholic/> Under his line of dukes, Amalfi remained independent, except for a brief period of [[Salerno|Salernitan]] dependency under [[Guaimar IV of Salerno|Guaimar IV]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

In 1073, the republic fell to the [[Italo-Normans|Norman]] countship of [[Apulia]], but was granted many rights. A prey to the Normans who encamped in the south of Italy, it became one of their principal posts. However, in 1131, it was reduced by [[Roger II of Sicily]], who had been refused the keys to its citadel. The [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor|Lothair]], fighting in favour of Pope [[Innocent II]] against Roger, who sided with the [[Antipope Anacletus]], took him prisoner in 1133, assisted by forty-six Pisan ships. The Pisans, commercial rivals of the Amalfitani, sacked the city; Lothair claimed as part of the booty a copy of the [[Pandects of Justinian]] which was found there.<ref name=Catholic/>

In 1135 and 1137, it was taken by the [[Pisa]]ns and rapidly declined in importance, though the [[Amalfian Laws]] were recognized in the [[Mediterranean]] until 1570. A [[Earthquake of 1343|tsunami in 1343]] destroyed the port and lower town,<ref>Braudel p. 107</ref> and Amalfi never recovered to anything more than local importance.

In medieval culture Amalfi was famous for its flourishing schools of law and mathematics. [[Flavio Gioia]], traditionally considered the first to introduce the [[mariner's compass]] to Europe, is said to have been a native of Amalfi.<ref name=Catholic/>

Amalfi has a long history of catering to visitors, with two former monasteries being converted to hotels at a relatively early date, the Luna Convento in the second decade of the 19th century and the Cappuccini Convento in the 1880s.  Celebrated visitors to Amalfi included the composer [[Richard Wagner]] and the playwright [[Henrik Ibsen]], both of whom completed works while staying in Amalfi.