Amalfi Coast Road (Italy)

The SS163 Amalfitana winds 25 miles along the cliffsides between Sorrento and Salerno, threading through pastel-colored villages perched impossibly on vertical rock faces above the Tyrrhenian Sea. The road is barely two lanes wide, carved directly into the limestone cliffs by hand in the mid-19th century. Tight tunnels open suddenly to panoramic Mediterranean views. Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello punctuate the drive with espresso stops that feel like movie sets. The driving is intense — oncoming buses will test your mirror-folding skills — but the combination of beauty and challenge is quintessentially Italian.