The cathedral staircase in Amalfi

Amalfi's cathedral sits at the top of a wide, steep flight of steps above the main square, and the facade above it is unlike anything else in Campania: pointed arches, geometric stripes of grey and white stone, gold mosaic in the gable. The staircase is as much a piece of architecture as the church.

For a photographer it solves a problem the rest of the coast creates. Everywhere else you are shooting down from a terrace or across a bay; here you shoot up, and two people standing halfway have the whole facade behind them and empty sky above. From the top of the steps the frame reverses: the piazza, the fountain and the tower run away below into the town.

The steps are public and never close, but they are the busiest thoroughfare in Amalfi between ten and six, and weddings use them constantly on Saturdays. First light is the answer — the square is empty, the stone is warm-toned, and the facade faces roughly south-west so it stays in even shade until later in the morning, which flatters faces. Church interiors and the cloister are ticketed with their own hours worth checking.