Vietri sul mare and the legend of the two brother rocks

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The Vietri beach ends with the cliff of the two brothers, also called the Faraglioni of Vietri.

The two huge rocks, very similar to each other, almost to look like twins are located between the sea and the coast at the edge of Salerno's seaport. They are the symbol of Vietri as together its ceramics and are linked to two legends.

Vietri sul mare and its ceramics

Vietri lies close to the Bomea valley, is the first town one encounters before Salerno coming from Naples, and is famous for the art of pottery making. In 1997, the town recognizable by the groups of houses clinging to limestone rock ramparts precipitous above the sea and the ceramic factories that enrich the landscape with color, was declared a World Heritage Site.

In 1943, when Salerno was the capital of Italy, the king settled in Villa Guariglia, now home to the ceramics museum.

Pottery making developed at the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. thanks to the presence of numerous quarries northeast of Salerno. The earliest historical records of Vietrese pottery production date from the 14th century CE and are mainly votive in nature.

The small factories of Vietri are entrusted with the task of passing on to posterity a tradition that has always existed.

In the early 1920s, craftsmen from foreign and local artists merged, creating new geometric shapes with stylized animals and elements of nature. The innovative forms of Vietri ceramics, thanks to the wonderful colors, seemed to come to life and and have been considered classic manufactures of the area ever since.

The Cliffs and The Shepherds in Love

The first legend related to the Faraglioni of Vietri tells of two shepherd brothers who fell in love at first sight with a beautiful maiden who was swimming in the waters of Vietri. As she was swimming and was caught in a strong storm and the young men, who were on the beach, immediately jumped into the sea in an attempt to save her. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in their venture and both drowned in an attempt to save the maiden.

Little did they know that the maiden had no need to be saved because she would be unharmed: she was in fact the daughter of Poseidon, the god of the sea.

The maiden, struck by the heroic gesture, transformed the bodies of the two valiant young men into the two rocks that have always watched over bathers.

The rocks and The Saracens in the conquest of Salerno

The second legend of the two brothers' rocks is related to the bloody siege of Salerno by Saracen pirates. Since the men of both factions were exhausted it was decided to have the most valiant soldiers of both factions challenge each other: the Count Umfredo dei Landolfi for Salerno and the Prince Rajan For the Saracens. They fought for a long time and reached as far as the beach of Vietri.

Tired and exhausted, during a lull they leaned on the two rocks. At that moment a huge wave swept over them, and as they were swept from the water because of their armor and exhaustion, they noticed that they wore the same crest. They realized during their last breath that they had both fought against their own brother, from whom they had been separated for a long time.

In honor of that family drama, the rocks on which they leaned were named the "Two Brothers."