Museo della Carta

The paper museum of Amalfi, Amalfi Coast

An antique paper press in the Amalfi Papermaking Museum

Walk up the main drag, through Piazza S. Spirito, until the road enters the Valle delle Mulini, the old center of Amalfi's once-flourishing paper-making trade (most of the old mills have since been converted to apartments).

Amalfi has excelled since at least the early 13th century at making paper, a craft slowly being revived in shops along the Valle dei Mulini street at the top end of town.

Eventually, you'll see an open door in a workshop on your left where the road narrows.

This was Amalfi's last true paper mill, which closed in 1969, and now houses the modest but interesting Museo della Carta museum

The paltry displays in the cavern-like rooms are enlivened by the staff's eagerness to show how it all worked, sifting screens through the pulp pot to make a wet sheet and even switching on the century-old hydraulic engine at the back so you can watch the stream waters turn the oversized gears.

Nice gift shop, too.

Though the mills are gone, there are still a few shops selling handmade paper products if you follow the main road up the valley a bit.

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