Ravello was an important town of the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 and around 1200
Ravello has served historically as a destination for artists, musicians, and writers, including Richard Wagner, M.C. Escher, Giovanni Boccaccio, Virginia Woolf, Gore Vidal, and Sara Teasdale who mentioned it in her prefatory dedication in Love Songs, one of her many books of poems.
Every year in the summer months, the "Ravello Festival" takes place. It began in 1953 in honour of Richard Wagner.