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\u2019s stays. We sat on their terrace one October evening and asked how they do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Russos\u2019 house stands on a stepped lane above Piazza Umberto I, and the family has lived here for four generations. \u201cMy grandmother hung her washing from that window,\u201d Marina says. \u201cNow guests hang their towels from it, which she would find very funny.\u201d 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\u2019s limoncello.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The town around them is older than it looks. The church of San Salvatore de\u2019 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marina keeps the calendar in one place and syncs it to Getaway, so nobody is booked twice. \u201cI used to write dates on the kitchen wall,\u201d 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 \u201cthis is what it looks like at night\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucia\u2019s view on breakfast is simple. \u201cBread from the bakery down the lane, fruit, yoghurt, our own lemon cake. Not a buffet. A table.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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: \u201cCome in September. The sea is warm, the light is soft and the town breathes out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n