If you reach Atrani by the sea road from Amalfi, you pass through a short tunnel and come out in a square the size of a tennis court, with a church at the top of a stair and a beach at the bottom. It is the smallest town in southern Italy, and it is where Marina and Lucia Russo run their family’s stays. We sat on their terrace one October evening and asked how they do it.
A house with a long memory
The Russos’ house stands on a stepped lane above Piazza Umberto I, and the family has lived here for four generations. “My grandmother hung her washing from that window,” Marina says. “Now guests hang their towels from it, which she would find very funny.” Marina handles the bookings and the calendar. Lucia, who trained as a cook, looks after breakfast, the garden and the welcome basket, which always includes a small bottle of her aunt’s limoncello.
The town around them is older than it looks. The church of San Salvatore de’ Birecto, at the head of the stairs, is where the doges of the Republic of Amalfi were crowned. The Dutch artist M. C. Escher visited the coast in the early 1930s and made a woodcut of Atrani, and the stacked houses and arches still look very much like the print.
What they tell every guest
- “Stay on the beach until the light goes pink, then climb to the church for the view. Do both before dinner.”
- “Walk to Amalfi through the tunnel in five minutes. Do not bring a car, there is nowhere to put it.”
- “Come back to the lane in the late afternoon, when the day-trippers have left. Atrani changes after four.”
Running a small stay properly
Marina keeps the calendar in one place and syncs it to Getaway, so nobody is booked twice. “I used to write dates on the kitchen wall,” she laughs. Now guests book online and see which nights are free. The Russos answer messages the same day, and a surprising number of guests say the first reply was a photograph of the stairs with the words “this is what it looks like at night”.
Lucia’s view on breakfast is simple. “Bread from the bakery down the lane, fruit, yoghurt, our own lemon cake. Not a buffet. A table.” Guests who cannot decide where to eat get a hand-drawn map with three circled places and a note about which evening each one is closed.
What guests ask most
Whether there are many steps (yes, and every listing says how many), whether the beach is sandy (it is small, with grey sand and pebbles), and whether to book a sunbed (a towel is fine, unless it is August). Their advice for first-timers: “Come in September. The sea is warm, the light is soft and the town breathes out.”
You can see the Russos’ calendars, rates and guest reviews on their host page, or browse stays in Atrani directly. We think you will like them as much as we do.
