Lantsman describes Positano as “a beautiful Amalfi coast village with white Moorish houses hanging on the slope around a turquoise bay.” Wealthy visitors can be found tucking into fresh Neapolitan cuisine at La Sponda, the Michelin-starred restaurant at the luxury boutique hotel Le Sirenuse. By night, the restaurant is illuminated by 400 candles.
Look beyond the facades and the fashion, however, and you will find reassuring signs of everyday reality: crumbling stucco, streaked paintwork and even, on occasion, a faint whiff of drains. There’s still a southern-Italian holiday feel about the place, with sunbathers eating pizza on the beach, kids pestering parents for gelato and chic signore from Milan browsing the boutiques. The fashionista history runs deep – moda Positano was born here in the ’60s and the town was the first in Italy to import bikinis from France.