Sorrento - Paper Making and the Amalfi Coast

January 24^th, 2014

Today we woke up early – too early in my opinion. The class, half-asleep, drug themselves on to Francesco’s tour bus and left the Le Tore vineyard at 8 am sharp. The night before, a serious rainfall caused a landslide that blocked our intended route to the paper museum that we had been planning to visit. After some debate about what we should do, our bus driver took us on a scenic route to the paper museum.

Inside the museum a rather lively guide stood waiting for our arrival. At first, I wasn’t too thrilled to be visiting a paper museum but as soon as the guide took us underground, I began to gain interest. He explained how the old paper factory worked and how each machine ran by hydropower (he even demonstrated). Next, he brought us to a large basin filled with a liquid substance he said was used to make paper. One by one he let us dip a metal screen into the opaque liquid and pull it out, revealing what looked like a liquid sheet of paper. We then transferred the paper on a felt sheet for the paper to dry. After this, we squeezed the excess water out of the paper using a large manual crank made entirely of wood. Our guide explained to us after that the residence of the Amalfi coast learned this paper making process from their close trading partners, the Arabs. The process was nothing like I had ever seen.

Sam and I read an article earlier today relating to the unusual relationship between the Amalfi and Arabs. During the first half of the 9^th century, Arab raiders ransacked much of what is today the Italian coast, but leaving the Amalfi coast unharmed. The Amafli and the Arabs created an intricate trading web that benefited both communities quite well. Because of this, the Arab pirates did not attack the Amalfi community in exchange for the use of Amalfi ports. This relationship was strange because much like the rest of the mainland, the Amalfi was predominately Christian, while the Arabs were Muslim. This trading relationship was so strong that even when Pope John VIII summoned the Amalfi to help defend against the Arab pirates, the Amalfi declined. The Amalfi’s commercial interest with the Arabs was of more importance than the fear and political motives of the pope.  

If it had not been for this close relationship between the Amalfi and the Arabs, the early history of the Italian people would have been very different. One can only imagine how different their lives would have been if this essential skill had not been learned due to trade.