Sea Cloud dropped anchor in front of one of the most important towns in the maritime history of Amalfi. The Duchy of Amalfi was one of the four maritime republics of the Mediterranean. Rivaling Genoa, Pisa, and Venice around the 10th and 11th centuries, Amalfi has given a lot to sea-faring history. The compass was a creative invention of the Amalfitano Captain Flavio Gioia, but the region also imported the Chinese technique for making paper, opening the entire European continent to the important handmade material. It was then that making books became an industry.