Amalfi, originally Roman, was the first Sea Republic of Italy. After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was the first city to re establish relationships with the East and West by transporting and introducing into Italy exotic merchandise such as carpets, coffee and paper. Amalfi had its own coin the Tari. It was the home of Flavio Gioia, the inventor of the compass and gave navigators the famous maritime way. Amalfi is a quiet and picturesque seaside resort with a temperate climate and incomparable natural beauty. It has some of the oldest hotels in Italy as well as many moderns ones. The Duomo was built about the 6th Century and dedicated to St. Andrew the Apostle, whose remains are kept in the crypt. Its present façade, brilliant with mosaics, is in oriental style and its bronze doors are the first ones to appear in Italy. Pantaleone di Mauro Comite, a nobleman, gave these to Amalfi who melted them in the 11th Century in Constantinople where he lived and led the Imperial Party. The Cloister of Paradise set beside the Duomo was built in the 13th Century in Arabian style. It holds ancient sarcophagi, marble sculptures and mosaics. The Ancient Armories of the Amalfi Republic, dating back to the 9th Century, withnessed a glorious maritime past. The Salone Morelli where you can admire the 14 paintings by Domenico Marelli reproduced in mosaic on the front of the Duomo. Some paintings and sketches by the Amalfitan painter, Pietro Scoppetta, holding the only existing specimen of the "Tabula de Amalpha" and the costumes for thr local regattas.