Today, this “road of 1,000 bends” hugs soaring cliffs and weaves tortuously in and out of deep gorges, passing olive groves, lemon terraces and tumbling whitewashed villages, all against a background of a shimmering azure sea. It is barely wide enough for two lanes of traffic, so in the crowded summer months traffic jams are inevitable, and best avoided by visiting off-season. In spring, the colours are bright, the air is fresh but the sea is chilly; better to come in late September or early October when the evenings are balmy, the water is still warm

At the eastern limit of the costiera lies the town of Vietri, a name that is synonymous with the production of the colourful ceramics you find in every restaurant, hotel and bar up and down the coast. It has very little reasonably priced accommodation, but gritty, buzzing Salerno is only 4km away and here there’s plenty of choice, such as the Verdi, a bright new B&B not far from the tourist port. Housed on the second floor of an apartment building, it has three comfortable bedrooms in bold colours (one with a small terrace) plus a living room with a long communal table for an excellent breakfast spread.
• 345-3416372 (mobile), bbverdi.it. Doubles from €70

Where to eat
It’s a little way from the centre of town but the pizzas at the Due Fratelli, baked in a wood-fired oven, are superb and come in two sizes, 700g and a massive 1.1kg. The house special is panuozzo, a kind of long, filled pizza sandwich. Try and bag a table on the top floor terrace.
• +39 089-761300, www.iduefratelli.it. Pizza from €7

Don’t miss
Designed in the 1950s by Paolo Soleri, a pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Solimene ceramics factory in Vietri is an extraordinary building that houses an Aladdin’s cave of an outlet shop, stuffed with bargains. The colourful naive animal designs are instantly recognisable.
• +39 089-210243, ceramicasolimene.it

Have you ever stayed in a hotel that was recommended by a TripAdvisor reviewer as the perfect “romantic retreat”, only to encounter crayon-toting toddlers in reception, teenagers texting by the pool, and the ardour-extinguishing cries of an infant in the neighbouring suite? Or eagerly embarked on a guidebook’s “scenic” driving route to discover a traffic-clogged thoroughfare with uninspiring views of a scarred and industrial landscape? Did you spend an afternoon amid a sea of tightly packed sunloungers on a Mediterranean beach last summer, your face just inches from a pungent foreign armpit, pondering the travel guide’s interpretation of “undiscovered”?