Travelling south along the coast from Naples towards Amalfi, we passed through Pompeii, and then, just before the Sorrento peninsular swinged into view in front of us, to the west, mushroomed a small town called Castellamare di Stabia. While it was not quite so picturesque, we didn’t want to drive too long so we had decided to settle there for the night – actually in a villa-like place just outside of town, with fragrant orange and lemon gardens, and panoramic views towards the Vesuvio volcano. So far, so good.
the naples bay area
The whole area south of Naples – encompassing the coastline of the jaw-shaped Naples bay- is basically one sprawling uninterrupted metropolis. You can tell especially by night, when everything sparkles lit up for tens of kilometres to the north and east. Generally, densely populated areas like this tend to be busy and sometimes not very relaxing, but the Naples bay is in fact quite beautiful to look at, at least from a properly high place. And hiking up in the vicinity makes for a great way to enjoy the views.
the lattari mountains regional park
I had researched in advance about hiking opportunities we could take advantage of in the area, and came across the Parco Regionale dei Monti Lattari (The Lattari Mountains Regional Park). The park takes up a good portion of the Sorrento peninsular, and while not the wildest place you’ll visit or hike in Italy, we did not want to miss the chance to walk around, get some sun and take in some beautiful sunset views.
Tip:You can find a lot of useful information on the website of the local Club Alpino Italiano (CAI), including a good map of all the trails, and up-to-date information about trail closures.
easy to reach & views!
The views! If you’re into views, this place hits the spot – it’s got that unique “surf & turf” combination of the immense fresh blues of the sky and the Tyrrhenian Sea on the one hand, and the rocky but diverse in vegetation coastal cliffs on the other. If you know the feeling of reward you get when hiking to a high mountain lake – it’s like that, but better in a way. You’ve got a whole sparkling sea to marvel at from the top in the stead of a “puny” lake.
In all honesty, I wouldn’t really say this is a remote place that is difficult to reach, especially by car. However, at least in spring – April or so – you’re unlikely to meet many people around there. (Although we did meet some locals, as well as a few other curious and dangerous things – read on!)
how to get there
You can reach the park from the Amalfi coast side to the south, by driving up north on one of the small winding roads: Strada Statale (SS) 366, Strada Provinciale (SP) 1 or SP2a. Since we were coming from the north though, we drove from the Castellamare di Stabia through the village of Gragnano, to the head of the trail.
On a side note, Gragnano itself is famous for being a major artisanal pasta in traditional bronze moulds – if you happen to have time, be sure to stop by to get some pasta souvenirs from any of the local stores (check out my post here about other delicious Italian goodies you can bring back home for yourself or your friends and family).
panoramic vesuvio volcano views
We started from our hotel after noon since we were waiting for the sky to clear up – the area got pounded by a heavy rain storm overnight (one of the risks of visiting during the spring season). We aimed for a leisurely hike without a specific goal and the trail #326a starting from the edge of Gragnano seemed like a good option to get to a hike quickly, and be able to retreat fast in case of bad weather (see the CAI link above for a map of the whole park).
The trail is a good day trip option – it took us about 2 hours to get to the highest point with light weight but in brutal heat (can’t even imagine it in the summer) and without much shade.
unforseen adventures
To get to the head of the trail you need to drive through the village of Gragnano. Naturally, it’s best to leave your car as close to the start of the trail as possible because otherwise you’ll have to home along the road to and from the start of the trail and that can’t be much fun if you’re there for the hiking.
Notably, another complication was literally waiting for us as we were coming back down from the trail to our car. The very last short stretch of the road passes by some houses; even though you don’t need to walk through anybody’s property and so you’re not trespassing in any way, the locals had made up their minds not to take any chances, and unleashed their dogs. So a bunch of dogs were ambushing the road that we needed to go on – bummer.
When we had started on the road earlier that day, we heard the dogs but they were leashed or kept locked so we assumed we would be fine. But as the Latin saying goes, you can never step in the same river twice. Or in our case, don’t count on dogs being safely leashed. Alas, on our return down, these guard doggies had been liberated, and we heard and saw them from afar, which was sort of terrifying.
saved by deux ex machina
Not knowing what to do we, we started gathering some bigger stones to have something to try to protect ourselves or at least distract the dogs should they settle on attacking us. We had almost resigned ourselves that we would probably need to run to the hospital for fresh Tetanus shots when Fate smiled upon us. Just at that moment a jeep loaded with Italian lads came down the road behind us. We frantically waved hands to attract their attention and using our rudimentary Italian and some gestures and dog sounds managed to explain our predicament. They were a jolly bunch and nicely let us squeeze into the jeep with them (which we barely managed to do as it was really stuffed to the brim with them).
Learn from our experience – do stay alert and careful – dogs trained to attack (or at least to be aggressive to people) can be a common problem for hikers in some areas in southern European countries, like Italy and Portugal, particularly at the end of villages, where there are farmhouses or villas.
the trail
The trail itself was hiding further surprises in the form of human artefacts. To begin, on the dirt road which you need to continue on to reach the actual trail, we encountered this photogenic old 4-wheel drive (no the one that saved us).
Just a few minutes walking up the serpentine dirt road takes you to the head of trail #326a. As you go up, views start opening up towards the Naples bay.
As we got to the actual trail from the dirt road the weather changed to sunny. We saw a lot of varied mediterranean flora on this trail in April – although the trees had not leafed out yet, we came across lots of flowers, like wild narcissuses, violets, as well as ferns and bushes.
the surprise discovery
And then we came across one of the top three weirdest things I have even seen on hikes: this contraption. Do you see the oval thing hanging from the branch – that was meat! Drying in the sun or set up there to attract animals to hunt? Your guess is as good as mine – we thought it was definitely not trash, as the whole scene was lovingly organised, and there seemed to be some equipment around too.
A meat with a view I’d say!
Only slightly perturbed by this curious discovery, we continued along the trail – it became rockier and we saw some dried up stream beds. Somewhere around here we lost the trail for a bit and had to backtrack and rely on our phone map.
As we were getting towards the highest point of the trail – some rocky outcrops, we saw more artefacts – lots of gun shot, presumably from recent hunting. I suppose hunting/culling is allowed in this area?
As the path got rockier we approached the highest point of this trail, where we found a tiny grassy plateau covered in forest. A sign informed us that around there was located the source of the river Vrucciaro (Sorgente acqua Vrucciaro). And it was the perfect resting spot, but we didn’t linger too long – it was after 4 pm already, and what with the meat and gun shot it didn’t feel great about staying around in the dark.
So we headed down just in time to catch a soft rainbow-coloured and very misty sunset. With birds singing in the mist, and not another soul around us, it did feel pretty special.
Just when we thought we’ve seen the end of an eventful hike (suspicious hanging meat, gun shot, and angry dogs), we got one last little adventure. Relieved to reach our car, we got in and just as we had driven a couple hundred metres, there appeared on the road in front of us a blockade created by the local shepherd rounding up his flock of fifty sheep. The perfect memorable end to top off a very memorable hike.
Glad to get safely back to our hotel around 8 pm, right in time for a well-deserved dinner of which I have no recollection whatsoever.
a note on weather
Don’t underestimate the effect of the heat – even a shorter hike, and even in the spring can take its toll. As always take water and some food, and a hat and sunblock. The weather seemed to be very dynamic and localised – even though we had been literally frying up in the heat on our hike the previous day just a few kilometres away from our hotel, on the coast it had been overcast and rainy.
However, on the following day, as we were about to leave, the sun appeared and we could finally enjoy a stroll among the citrus trees in the garden. Better late than never!
P.S. More hiking adventures in Southern Italy soon to follow!
–Silvia
More italian posts to peruse
Part 1: Walking around Amalfi on the stair trails
Part 2: Possibly the best hiking trail in Amalfi with 360 degree views!
Shopping for souvenirs in Italian supermarkets
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