Loop from Naples

01 Museum

Herculaneum

Scavi archeologici di Ercolano

Buried in 79 under 10 to 25 metres of hardened volcanic mud, the town has kept its upper floors, beams and doors of charred wood. A farmer digging a well rediscovered it in 1709, and Amedeo Maiuri uncovered it in the open air from 1927. Lean over from the modern town to look down on this grid of streets below.

02 Mountain

Mount Vesuvius

Vesuvio

The Gran Cono of Vesuvius grew inside the caldera left by the collapse of Monte Somma, whose ridge still encircles it to the north. Seeing the towns climb right up its slopes, you'll understand why some 700,000 people live under the threat of a volcano that has been silent since 1944. Neapolitans simply call it the Mountain, so completely does it dominate their bay.

03 Archaeology

Villa Poppaea

Villa di Poppea

Buried by Vesuvius in 79, this villa at Torre Annunziata is attributed to Poppaea, wife of Nero, on the basis of an inscription on an amphora. Its trompe-l'œil frescoes depict false colonnades, among peacocks, theatre masks and a sanctuary of Apollo. In the north garden, look for the casts of its olive trees' roots.

04 Archaeology

Pompeii

Pompei

In 79, the eruption of Vesuvius buried this Oscan city, by then Roman, under some six metres of ash and lapilli. Since the first excavations of 1748, its streets, its forum and the Temple of Apollo have come back to light, frozen at the moment of the disaster. Walk slowly over the worn paving stones, keeping the volcano in view.

05 Village

Sorrento

Set on a high tuff terrace above the Bay of Naples, Sorrento gave its name to the whole peninsula. Tasso was born here in 1544, and the basilica of Sant'Antonino keeps the remains of the town's patron saint. Lean over the edge of its cliffs and follow the tuff wall down to the water.

06 Nature park

Area naturale Baia di Ieranto

Between the towers of Montalto and the Campanella, the Bay of Ieranto keeps the hoppers of a limestone quarry closed in 1952 at the water's edge. Olive trees climb in terraces on dry-stone walls. On the path from Nerano, you'll pass Casa Silentium, where Norman Douglas began Siren Land in the early 20th century.

07 Village

Positano

Head down to the Spiaggia Grande by endless stairways, between the late Baroque villas of merchants who grew rich in the 18th century. Beneath the oratory of Santa Maria Assunta, a Roman villa excavated since 2003 became the MAR museum in 2018. At the water's edge, the Fornillo tower recalls the watch kept against raids.

08 Beach  · Family

Fiordo di Furore

09 Cave

Grotta dello Smeraldo

Discovered in 1932 by a fisherman, this cave on the Amalfi Coast saw the sea rise and flood its natural passage. Filtered through this submerged corridor, the light tints the water green and turquoise beneath a 24-metre vault bristling with stalactites. Glide across this lake in a wooden rowing boat, with no engine.

10 Village

Amalfi

Discover Amalfi clinging to the cliff, the first of the Italian maritime republics, whose Amalfi Tables long governed Mediterranean trade. Its duomo, approached by a wide staircase, keeps the relics of St Andrew in its crypt. Higher up the valley, old paper mills recall the making of Amalfi paper, presented in a museum.

11 Village

Atrani

Wedged between Monte Civita and Monte Aureo, where the Dragone valley opens out, Atrani is the smallest municipality in Italy. Lose yourself in its maze of stairways down to the piazzetta, where in the church of San Salvatore de Birecto the dukes of Amalfi received their headdress of power. Higher up, the church of the Maddalena stands out against the sea.

12 Museum

Villa Rufolo

Nicola Rufolo built most of the villa between 1250 and 1283, dominated by a 30-metre tower. Follow the gardens laid out for the Scotsman Francis Neville Reid, where Wagner found an image for Parsifal. From the viewpoint, the gaze drops to the Gulf of Salerno, above which the festival's summer stage seems to float.

13 Museum

Villa Cimbrone

Walk out to the Terrazza dell'Infinito, the viewpoint suspended on the edge of the Ravello cliff, where sky and sea merge into a single blue. Gore Vidal considered it the most beautiful view of his travels. The gardens, open to the public, owe their design to Ernest Beckett, who bought this villa, recorded as early as the 11th century, in 1904.

14 Archaeology

Villa Romana, Minori

Villa romana di Minori

Where the Reginna Minor reaches the sea, this 1st-century villa is arranged around a garden with a central pool bordered by a triple portico. Cross this viridarium to the vaulted rooms next to the triclinium. Lived in until the 7th century, then buried under alluvium, it re-emerged in 1932 during a collapse.

15 Village

Cetara, Campania

Cetara

Tucked at the foot of Monte Falerio, Cetara is still a fishing village, renowned for its colatura, a condiment made from anchovies. Spot the viceregal tower raised against Turkish raids, such as the one in 1534 that enslaved three hundred inhabitants. Its fishermen once set off every spring for Algeria and Morocco to fish for anchovies.