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Antonio, Domenico and Their Fishing Past

Their stories about the old fishing days bridge the gap between the present and the past

By Jordan Beard


Just before beginning my studies at Brown University, in the United States, I spent the summer living and working at Carol Lewitt’s villa and farm Casa l’Orto on the steep terraced hills of Praiano.

I went to work on Carol’s farm but I soon became interested in another project as well— I wanted to document and preserve a piece of Praiano’s socio-cultural history that seemed integral to understanding the town in the present.

As a filmmaker, and a curious mind, I’d pause on evening walks up and down the town’s many winding staircases, asking passersby about their favorite parts of Praiano. I became fascinated with capturing moments that happened decades ago— and understanding and contextualizing them through stone stairs, rows of terraces, and tangled fishing nets.

Antonio was one of the most enthusiastic and interesting people that I met during my months there. In this interview shot on a sun-soaked day in Piazza San Luca, Antonio and his friend Domenico helped me know a Praiano of another era.

Through their stories about fishing adventures at sea, I began to bridge the gap between what Praiano once was and what it is today— to understand the many economic, social and even linguistic changes the town’s undergone in the past half century or so.

I left Praiano at the end of the summer with more questions than answers, but I like to think that, thanks to people like Antonio and Domenico, I left with a better understanding of the town, its history and maybe its future too.

Watch the interview

VERSIONE IN ITALIANO

Amalfi Coasting is a “pet project” of a community organization started in the town of Praiano in 2013. We developed this web site as a tool to invite people from all over the world to get to know our town, discover its "secrets" and embrace it not just as a great tourist destination but also as a community, with its people, its traditions and all of its offerings.