The origins of the Amalfi Coast are shrouded in an aura of mystery that finds its answer in the myth.
The legend tells that Amalfi takes its name from a nymph that Hercules felt madly in love with, but who died prematurely breaking the heart of the great greek hero. Hercules decided to find a nice place where to bury his beloved and spotted this site along a green wild coast, where the sea, the sky and nature met.
Hercules found along this coast also a small village, and decided to decorate it with “the tree of the soft fruits, fragrant and bright as the sun”, that he stole in the Garden of the Hesperides, during one of his Twelve Labors. Those fruits are now well known, all over the world, as the “Amalfi Lemons“.
Here’s how, in the place where Hercules buried his beloved Amalfi, was born a beautiful, sunny village, that takes its name from the nymph.
Nowadays, in the little town of Atrani, a small nice spot very close to Amalfi, lives a man who embodies both the virtues of strength and passion of the great greek hero: his name is Raffaele Criscuolo, but everyone knows him as Lello … and that is how myth and reality are joining together.
Lello is a self – made man. Everything started when he was just 11 years old. The young Lello helped his father carrying on his shoulders several heavy bags, of at least 100 kilograms … and from then on, he never stopped, so that he managed to make a profession out of those skills, arriving up to 350 kilograms carried for big distances. A grand was carried as well along all the stairs of the Amalfi Dome!
During the years Lello, growing between Amalfi and Atrani historical spots, discovered a strong artistic attitude together with a relevant manual dexterity, which allowed him to achieve magnificient results of craftsman works. As a matter of fact, everytime Lello has a bit of free time, he refuges in his garage/laboratory and creates sculptures and artefacts inspirated by his imagination totally immersed in the local artistic tradition.
