Italy’s Amalfi Coast, with its cliff-perched houses and harrowing roads, has mesmerized many visitors. One Amalfi village in particular became a lifelong fascination for M.C. Escher, the 20th-century Dutch artist and illustrator, and he revisited it repeatedly in his works. Atrani, located just east of Amalfi, near the center of its namesake coast, resembles a fantasy castle: A series of tall arches springs from the sea to support an acute curve in the cliff-hugging coast road. Within this hairpin loop, a 17th-century church lifts its bell-tower skyward, while the arches…
