Piazza dei Mulini
Piazza dei Mulini is where Positano stops being drivable. Cars and scooters drop you here, the road narrows, and from this point on the town belongs to feet. Three streets converge at the square — Via Pasitea, Via Cristoforo Colombo, and Via dei Mulini — and the effect is less a grand piazza than a practical knot, the kind of place where everyone passes through and a few people pause.
From here, Via dei Mulini threads downhill through boutiques selling the loose linen and ceramic-print fabrics that Positano has traded in for decades, eventually delivering you to Spiaggia Grande and the water. The piazza is the hinge between the town above and the beach below.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who know Positano well tend to use the square as a clock: arrive early on the orange interno bus before the tour coaches come, grab a coffee at one of the cafe tables right on the piazza, and be halfway down Via dei Mulini before the midday crush fills the lane. The porter service here is worth knowing if you're arriving with luggage.
The story behind Piazza dei Mulini
The name refers to the mills — mulini — that once worked the steep terrain above Positano, and Via dei Mulini preserves that etymology even as the street itself has long since given over to fashion and food. Beyond the name, the documented history of the square as a discrete civic space is thin; what's clear is its function, which has likely been consistent for as long as Positano had wheeled traffic to stop somewhere.
The designation of this point as the town's vehicle boundary formalised what the geography already enforced: the slope below is too narrow and too stepped for anything but walking.
Good to know
SITA buses from Amalfi, Sorrento, and points along the coast stop near the square at the Flavio Gioia sign; the interno route runs every 30 minutes. Buy tickets in advance at a tabacchi to avoid the on-board surcharge. Ferries from Naples and Amalfi run April through October. The piazza itself is open at all hours — it's a public square.
Summer brings heat and real crowds; the piazza is an exposed confluence with little shade, so mornings and evenings move more comfortably than midday. April, May, and October offer cooler air and shorter queues on Via dei Mulini.
Where is Piazza dei Mulini?
Location
- In Positano
- 40.6281, 14.4847
- Open in Google Maps
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