A small path winds up the mountainside, zigzagging around a few abandoned winter terraces with gnarled old vines still bearing solitary grape clusters, and some olive trees laden with heavy branches of fruit. The sun is bright in the sky with a few small, cute, insignificant sheep clouds over the south-facing coastline, where the cliffs rise several hundred meters steeply up from the inviting, deep blue Mediterranean. But as the rays hit my neck, I don’t see it. I count the steps... 315, 316, 317...
These are just the last continuous stretch of steps we’ve climbed this morning, and I wonder how many more steps the rest of the day will bring, but then comes the reward: Another fantastic view, this time from the small abandoned San Domenico monastery, where monks lived and cultivated wine until 2004.
It’s late October, and I’ve invited my father to hike in Italy. The weather has been 24 degrees and sunny since we landed – and on an Italian weather broadcast on TV, we saw a military man saying that it would continue unchanged, so while the autumn storm rages in Denmark, we chat about how we might have packed too few pairs of shorts.
In the small charming mountain villages we hike through, the vegetable gardens are lush with pumpkins, eggplants, bell peppers, chilies, tomatoes, and not least, lots of clementines, oranges, and lemons. Hedges and bushes are in full bloom in many places, while other varieties show more autumn in the form of leaves in beautiful red and yellow hues.
At this time of year, we have the trails to ourselves, occasionally interrupted by a few mules with their drivers trailing behind. They are working on improving parts of the trail and thinning out the underbrush in several places, and here it’s still the old-fashioned horse power that’s the easiest method for transporting wood to the nearest roads. It’s impressive how steadily the animals climb through the terrain with their heavy loads, while it looks like something from another age. But they are not the first we meet – nor the last, so it’s clear that there is a significantly greater distance between the towns here and those at home than the 2000 kilometers on the map.
Villa Cimbrone
Back in the 5th century, when the barbarian invasion marked the end of the Western Roman Empire, the town of Rebello was founded by a group of Roman aristocrats seeking refuge on the mountainsides above the Amalfi Coast. Today, the name has changed to Ravello, and it is a completely unique little town perched high above the Mediterranean. The 300 meters of elevation from Amalfi is achieved via well-maintained steps, and there are many of them! If you’re less adventurous, it’s easy to take one of the local buses to the top, but for my father and me, it was fantastic to reach the town, warm and out of breath, only to lose our breath over the completely fascinating atmosphere and view from Villa Cimbrone.
Villa Cimbrone has existed since the 12th century, built on a rocky mountain ridge where the estate once covered a little more than 8 hectares. It’s flat, lush, and absolutely lovely. The villa has been a residence for aristocracy for centuries, and the list of notable people who have stayed here includes Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill, Wagner, Greta Garbo, and Leopold Stokowski, among others. "The Terrace of Infinity" gives a good sense of why the place has long been favored for various forms of artistic representation.
The experience of sitting in the park, among flowers and palm trees, enjoying the view with a glass of cool white wine and a bowl of juicy olives after climbing the steps, is almost indescribable. In recent years, the villa has been a top-class hotel where wealthy people can take a break for a while in silence and exclusivity.
Amalfi
Amalfi sits right by the water with lovely docks that allow you to step out and get a fantastic view over the town. Like many other small towns on this coast, it is full of stairs, alleys, and shortcuts that can quickly become detours. It is truly valuable to have a detailed hiking description in hand here. The routes are described so thoroughly that there’s no mistake about which way is most interesting. Moreover, we would never have found these small routes on our own, which sometimes give the impression that you are walking through the mountain instead of over it.
Sentiero degli Dei - The Path of the Gods
One of the hiking routes that makes the biggest impression on us is undoubtedly Sentiero degli Dei – The Path of the Gods. It is the region’s most famous trail and winds around the mountainsides high above the coast from Bomerano to Nocelle, just before Positano. Here the hiking experience is intense with steep drops and exceptional views over the Mediterranean, which, with its beautiful blue color, lies 500-600 meters below us. The characteristic cultivated terraces and the coastline extending from the promontory at Praiano in the east all the way out to the island of Capri in the west. The path twists through small vegetation, along rugged limestone cliffs, past old ruins, and after repeating "wow," "amazing," and "oh, that’s a long way down" a few times, we agree that our vocabulary doesn’t quite reach the heights of the actual experience of strolling in the autumn sun with the broad path, the views, and the sound of birdsong all to ourselves.
Positano It’s Halloween, and as we approach Positano, where the sun is now low over the sea, we encounter the first mummies, vampires, ghosts, and cute pirates who think they look scary. The children run around, collecting candy and big smiles from the local shops and open restaurants, and you get the sense that everyone knows everyone. Just as we’ve sat down by the water with a much-needed ice cream, a large brass band starts up on the beach with a beautiful repertoire of evergreens, accompanying the last rays of the sun in the sea and letting the warm twilight take over. The beach environment and village atmosphere in Positano are charming, inspiring, and the finest of the coastal towns we’ve experienced on the trip.
The fact that my father and I are from two different generations makes no difference on this type of holiday. It’s only delightful to be able to step out of our busy everyday lives and meet for a magnificent hiking experience, spiced with ample amounts of cappuccino, gelato, and childhood stories that only improve when told in the Italian late summer surroundings. For anyone up for a bit of sweat, magnificent hiking experiences await on the Amalfi Coast.
Written by Lea Falch - Bering Travel
