Positano by John Steinbeck (1953) — The original Harper's Bazaar essay that put the Amalfi Coast on the international tourist map. Only a few pages long, it captures something true about the place — its unreality, its charm, its capacity to haunt. Find it collected in anthologies of Italian travel writing.
The Amalfi Coast by Gae Aulenti — A coffee-table book but an unusually good one, tracing the history and architecture of the coast towns from the medieval republic to the present. The architectural analysis of the Arab-Norman style is the most useful part for visitors wanting to understand what they're looking at.
The Gallery by John Horne Burns (1947) — Set in Naples and Campania during the Allied occupation of 1943–44, this is one of the finest American novels to come out of World War II. It captures southern Italy's poverty, beauty, and disorder with an honesty that contemporary travel writing rarely achieves.
Ravello by Stephen Parkin — A short, scholarly history of the hilltop town and its medieval heyday as a prosperous commercial outpost of the Amalfi Republic. Useful background for anyone spending time in Ravello.