Amalfi coast - new link planned

EasyJet is to launch sumer flights between Gatwick and Salerno, jumpng off point for Itall's specatcular Amalfi coast. With departures twice a week - on Tuersdays and Saturdays - it is the first UK airline to operate there. Salerno lies to the east of Naples, currently the most convenient gateway to the souoth facing coastlne. Between the two cities are attractive towns including Sorrento, Positano, Ravello and Amalfi itself, which is just uncder 1hr's drive from Salerno. Ravello has been the haunt of numerous celebrities, among them Grieg, Virginia Woolf, Greta Garbo, Tennessee Williams, Jaqueline Kennedy, Graham Greene and Leonard Berstein. Its 13th century Villa Rufolo was mentioned by Buccacio in the Decamerons amd inspired Richard Wagner to write his opera Parsifal. Cliff side Positano has also drawn its share ot the famous, among them the director Franco Zefirtelli, who had a villa there. Amalfi is a centre of lemon production - and with them the liqueur Limoncello. Salerno flights will also provide alternative access to the ruins of Pompeii. However, they may appeal most strongly to over-50s hikers keen to walk the coast's airy hilltop routes, which are already on offer from a range of tour operators.