• Descrizione
  • Più
Contents
Introduction
Flowers and plants
Wildlife
Exploring and bases
Information
Getting there
Getting around
When to go
Accommodation
Culinary delights
What to take
Maps
Emergencies
Using this guide
Dos and don’ts
Ischia
Walk 1 Over Monte Epomeo
Walk 2 Bosco della Maddalena
Walk 3 Maronti to Sant’Angelo
Walk 4 Piano Liguori traverse
Capri
Walk 5 Sentiero dei Fortini
Walk 6 Over Monte Solaro
Walk 7 Villa Jovis loop
Walk 8 Arco Naturale–Faraglioni circuit
Sorrento
Walk 9 On Monte Sant’Angelo
Walk 10 Bagni della Regina Giovanna
Walk 11 Monte San Costanzo and Punta Campanella
Walk 12 Monte San Costanzo
Walk 13 Baia di Ieranto
Walk 14 Sant’Agata to Massa Lubrense
Walk 15 Marina di Crapolla
Walk 16 The Siren trail
Walk 17 Sant’Elia
Positano
Walk 18 Santa Maria Castello to Montepertuso
Walk 19 Montepertuso–Fornillo circuit
Walk 20 Sentiero degli Dei
Walk 21 Above Praiano
Walk 22 Grotte di Santa Barbara
Walk 23 Furore Fjord
Amalfi
Walk 24 Upper Valle delle Ferriere
Walk 25 Valle dei Mulini, Ferriere and Pontone
Walk 26 Torre dello Ziro
Walk 27 Ravello to Amalfi via Valle del Dragone
Walk 28 Ravello and Santa Caterina loop
Walk 29 Minori–Atrani–Amalfi
Walk 30 Minori and San Nicola
Walk 31 Santuario dell’Avvocata
Walk 32 Badia Santa Maria dell’Olearia

Walking on the Amalfi Coast describes 32 day-walks, ranging from 3km to 11km in length. The walks explore the Sorrento Peninsula, Amalfi Coast and Monti Lattari, as well as the islands of Capri and Ischia in the Gulf of Naples. The whole area is crisscrossed by ancient mule tracks, pilgrim routes and goat tracks, offering a variety of walking from family strolls to strenuous treks across terrain from paved paths to verdant hillside paths and rough volcanic scree.

Split into the five sections of Ischia, Capri, Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi, each walk is accompanied by relevant public transport information as well as a sketch map. The book also provides local and practical information, accommodation options and an Italian–English glossary.

The steep southern edge of the Sorrento peninsula, famous for its medieval villages perched atop plunging cliffs, with their near-vertical vineyards and lemon orchards, is recognised as a World Heritage Site. This coastline, the rugged landscape behind, crowned by the Monti Lattari, and the idyllic islands of Capri and Ischia together make a perfect holiday destination for walkers.
 

  • Activities
    Walking, hiking
  • Seasons
    all year round, though midsummer can get a bit hot. The spring (April-May) and autumn (September-October) months are probably the best. Winter can be wonderful - and quiet
  • Centres
    Naples is the main city and airport, but key walking bases are Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and the gorgeous islands of Capri and Ischia
  • Difficulty
    all walkers catered for, from strollers to active trekkers; simple short routes on old mule tracks, but flat land is in short supply here and stepped pathways are the norm; walks are graded 1-3
  • Must See
    the UNESCO World Heritage Amalfi Coast, with Ravello, Positano and Amalfi as well as Sorrento on the Gulf of Naples, the gorgeous island of Capri and neighbouring Ischia. Walks are both easy and challenging, Sentiero degli Dei, the Monti Lattari, Roman villas, hidden coves, lemon orchards, coastal ferry trips, divine Neapolitan cakes, medieval alleyways

Knows’t thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom,

Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket’s gloom,

Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows,

And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?

JW Goethe (1785)

Oh no, yet another ‘unbeatable’ walk. I’m running out of five-star adjectives.

Fraught guidebook author after a walk on the Amalfi Coast (2009)

The Tyrrhenian Sea in southern Italy is an area of dramatic coastal scenery, none more so than in the Gulfs of Naples and Salerno where all the action in this book takes place. No number of dazzling glossy travel brochures or rave accounts from friends can prepare you for these sensational places and their natural beauty. There’s the picture-perfect island of Capri, once the playground of pleasure-seeking Roman emperors, and contrasting Ischia, land of ancient volcanoes. Across the gulf the rugged Sorrento peninsula is lapped by sparkling turquoise water and criss-crossed by a great web of age-old mule tracks. Inland rises its mountainous backbone, the Monti Lattari, soaring to spectacular heights.

The steep southern edge goes by the name of the Amalfi Coast, incomparably beautiful and famous the world over. Settlements from the medieval era with outstanding architectural and artistic features perch on precipices high over the sea. Arable land being in short supply, over the centuries the ingenious inhabitants have painstakingly built up breathtaking sequences of stone retaining walls to support terraced vineyards and lemon orchards.

All this is great news for walkers, as the ancient network of routes leads across a range of stunning landscapes. A sense of wonder takes over each time you step out. The crowds and hustle of the coast are left quickly behind, and in their place are soothing green landscapes with masses of wild flowers and aromatic herbs, not to mention inspirational panoramas. This is a veritable paradise for walkers of all abilities and levels of experience.

The heritage of mule tracks linking the villages dotted over the mountainous peninsula and islands are an open invitation to visitors interested in exploring this beautiful region on foot. Routes in this guide follow country lanes as well as paved and stepped knee-testing ways shared at times with herders, farmers and their mules loaded with firewood or freshly harvested lemons. On many occasions there are walkers-only paths across flowered hillsides thick with Mediterranean plants, exquisite wild orchids, lush green woods and jungle-like valleys. Pilgrims’ routes lead to revered sanctuaries and goat tracks cross volcanic terrain.