Piazza Tasso
Piazza Tasso is where Sorrento exhales. Buses pull in, mopeds cut through, and somewhere between the café tables and the crossings, two statues hold their ground — Torquato Tasso, the poet born here in 1544, marooned at the corner of Corso Italia because the filled gorge beneath couldn't bear his weight, and Sant'Antonino, the town's patron saint, anchoring the centre.
Look north from the square's edge and you'll see why the ground is uneven: the Vallone dei Mulini, a deep ravine, runs below. In the 1840s, city planners buried part of it to create this level surface. The square you're standing on is, in a sense, a lid.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who know the square well come back at different hours on purpose. Early morning, before the traffic thickens, the yellow façade of Santa Maria del Carmine catches the light and the café chairs are still empty. Late evening, the mopeds thin out and the corso crowd drifts through. The small tourist train that departs from here — a few euros for a half-hour loop down to Marina Piccola — is worth it once.
The story behind Piazza Tasso
The ground beneath Piazza Tasso was once a gorge called the Vallone dei Mulini, and before the square existed at all, an Aragonese fortress known as Largo del Castello stood here, guarding the edge of the promontory. In the early 1840s, the fortress was demolished and sections of the ravine were filled to create a flat civic space as Sorrento modernised.
The square took its current form in the 1860s, with most sources pointing to 1866. The statue of Torquato Tasso — Sorrento's most famous son, author of the 16th-century epic Jerusalem Delivered — was sculpted by Gennaro Calì and inaugurated in 1870. It was meant to stand at the centre, but the unstable fill beneath the piazza forced planners to relocate it to its present corner. The Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, partly obscured now by an adjoining café, has been on the eastern side since 1572.
Good to know
The square is free and open around the clock, but it is only partially pedestrianised — cars and mopeds still pass through, so watch when crossing from Corso Italia. SITA and CURRERI buses stop nearby. From Sorrento's Circumvesuviana station it's a short walk west.
Summer afternoons turn the open square into a heat trap, with August temperatures reaching around 28°C — shade is scarce, so mornings are easier. Autumn brings the most rain, with November averaging over 180mm; come prepared. Winter is mild and quiet, rarely cold enough to be unpleasant.
Where is Piazza Tasso?
Location
- In Sorrento
- 40.6262, 14.3757
- Open in Google Maps
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