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00 Cetara
Stemma di Cetara

Campania · Salerno

Cetara

The Amalfi Coast's working tuna and anchovy port, where colatura di alici is still aged in chestnut barrels in the cellars behind the marina.

Best time
May–Sep
By car
17 min from Salerno
Population
1,967

Known for

  • COLATURA DI ALICI

    Amber anchovy sauce aged in chestnut barrels, descended from Roman garum and revived by local monks; DOP since 2020.

  • TUNA FLEET

    The Amalfi Coast's last working tuna and anchovy fleet, based in the small port; few of the Italian coast's traditional purse-seine boats remain.

  • TORRE VICEREALE

    Sixteenth-century coastal watchtower rebuilt after the 1534 Saracen sack, now the village civic museum of the costaioli painters.

When to visit

Best · May–Sep

  • J13°
  • F15°
  • M16°
  • A18°
  • M23°
  • J28°
  • J31°
  • A31°
  • S27°
  • O23°
  • N18°
  • D15°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 28° and coldest in February at 15°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Pietro, 29 June

Why come

Cetara sits at the eastern end of the Amalfi Coast on a narrow inlet between Vietri sul Mare and Maiori, 17 kilometers from Salerno. Saracen pirates established a base here in 879 AD and made repeated raids west along the coast; in 1534 the corsair Sinan Pasha sacked the village and took roughly 300 inhabitants as slaves to North Africa. The viceregal watchtower above the beach, Torre di Cetara, was rebuilt in the 16th century as part of the coastal defense system commissioned from Naples; it now holds the civic museum of local painters known as the costaioli.

Cetara remains the working fishing village of the coast, with a tuna and anchovy fleet still based in the small port. Colatura di alici, the amber anchovy sauce descended from Roman garum and revived in the Middle Ages by local monks, is still aged in chestnut barrels in the cellars; it received DOP status in 2020. The Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo on the marina, with its yellow majolica dome, is the visual signature of the village.

The Sunday letter

Cetara is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Cetara comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Cetara in our articles

How to get there

From Naples / Salerno (NAP), about 1 hour by car.

Bari / Brindisi (BRI) is about 3h 18m away.

By car from the centre of Salerno 17 minutes, Naples 55 minutes or Rome 3h 8m.

Coming by train into Salerno? Cetara is about 20 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Naples / Salerno airport.

Cetara, photo 1
Cetara, photo 2

What to see

  • Torre Vicereale

    Sixteenth-century viceregal watchtower rebuilt after the 1534 Saracen sack, restored in 2011 and now holding the civic museum of the costaioli painters.

  • Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo

    Ninth-century parish church on the marina rebuilt in Baroque style, with a yellow majolica dome that signs the village from the sea.

  • Convento di San Francesco

    Fourteenth-century Franciscan convent above the port, with a small cloister and a sea-facing terrace, now used for civic events.

  • Marina di Cetara

    Working fishing harbor at the foot of the village, base of the surviving tuna and anchovy fleet, with a small beach to either side of the breakwater.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Cetara fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

We recommend

Where to eat

Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.

  • Al ConventoTrattoria

    A Michelin Bib Gourmand for Al Convento, along with three Gambero Rosso prawns and a place in L'Espresso's Top 300.

  • La Dispensa di ArmatoreRistorante

    La Dispensa di Armatore holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

Signature dish

Colatura di aliciSeafood

A clear amber anchovy sauce descended from Roman garum, drawn from barrels in Cetara and tossed through spaghetti.

See every town in our catalogue with a dish of its own.

Living here

  • Population 1,967
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy: none mapped
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Nearest airport Naples / Salerno, 1 h 1 min drive
  • Regional capital Napoli, 55 min drive

Common questions

What is Cetara known for?
Cetara is the Amalfi Coast's working tuna and anchovy port, where colatura di alici is still aged in chestnut barrels in the cellars behind the marina.
Where is Cetara?
Cetara is a comune in the province of Salerno, in Campania, at 10 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Cetara?
Naples / Salerno (NAP), about 1 hour by car.
How long is the drive from Salerno to Cetara?
About 17 minutes by car.
When is the best time to visit Cetara?
Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Cetara?
The town keeps its patron saint's day: Pietro, 29 June.
Which other towns are like Cetara?
Minori, Praiano and Pisciotta.
How many people live in Cetara?
1,967 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 10 m
  • Population: 1,967
  • Surface area: 4.97 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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