The Amalfi coast is thirteen towns strung along a single corniche — the SS163 — carved into the cliff in the nineteenth century. Into this geometry flow an estimated five million-plus day visitors a year: coaches from Naples and Rome, cruise shuttles from Sorrento, rental scooters, and the eternal line of taxis. The road was the attraction; now it is the constraint.
The toolkit has hardened: alternating number-plate rules on peak summer days, coach entry slots, restricted parking that prices a Positano afternoon like a theatre ticket. The premium towns ration hardest — Positano and Amalfi treat congestion as a cost to be exported to the less famous villages, which absorb the overflow and the resentment.
Paradoxically, congestion defends the premium: the harder the coast is to reach, the more an overnight stay inside it is worth. Hotel rates in Positano now carry a measurable “sleep-inside premium” — guests pay to be on the right side of the road closure. The day-tripper crush is the coast’s least-loved asset and its most reliable rate support.
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