In less than two centuries the Duchy of Amalfi grew to become the main commercial and military strength in the high Tyrrhenian, and Amalfi “ the most prosperous, noble and illustrious city of the Longobards” as the Arab traveller , Ibn Havcal, declared in 977, an important cosmopolitan centre according to Guglielmo of Puglia ( end of the XI century) …”here lived the best navigators of the times and merchants arrived from all over the known world…” The foundation of the fortunes of Amalfi was timber, from the tree-covered mountains of the coast: the mountains of the coast were at the time richly covered with forests….

Pannello Ceramico

Prime material for the construction of ships, timber at that time was a precious merchandise of exchange in the Arab and African countries, these countries had excellent craftsmen and navigators but they were often short of timber, because the scarce forests of North Africa were not able to supply enough. The ships of Amalfi loaded with timber would leave for North Africa and there it would be exchanged for gold from the mines in deepest Africa. On the return, they followed the route along the Syrian-Palestine coast and Asia Minor where they exchanged the gold for precious stones, ivory, worked gold, spices, silks and rich materials which they brought back home to sell in Rome, Ravenna, Pavia and all the major Italian cities. Desiderio, Abbot of Montecassino ( future Pope Gregory VII) came to Amalfi to acquire precious stuff to present as a gift to the Emperor Enrico IV…