Steps, Steps and more Steps

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Geo: 40.6344, 14.6026

First up today was a walk up to the hilltop town of Ravello. But Amalfi, as with all these villages that have houses clinging to steep rock, they are an interesting exercise to navigate through. There are tiny passageways that thread between and under buildings, narrow steps winding around corners and up cliffs.

If you take the correct route through this maze of alleyways, you very quickly arrive in Atrani and from then it is up and up the steps to Ravello. It seemed that we would never stop climbing the steps and the walking poles (first time I have used them) did help. Views galore as we ascended and finally got to the top.

We visited two well known Ravello gardens. First up was Villa Cimbrone with its quirky statuary and inscriptions, and a beautiful trellised walkway covered in wisteria. The villa itself has been converted to a 4 star hotel and looked very luxurious.

Our second garden was Villa Rufolo which also had stunning views and the classical music gently wafting in the background made it very serene.

Ravello seemed very elegant and refined compared to bustling Amalfi and boasted some beautiful ceramics.

Of course, after up there is always down... and so it was to Pontone, a tiny village with a quaint piazza for a welcome lunch break before more ascents and descents to Torre Della Ziro.

These ruins are what remain of one of the many fortresses that were part of the defense walls of the Dukedom of Amalfi that were used to spot the approach of Saracen pirate ships. Unfortunately we had a minor navigational hiccup and didn't actually reach the ruins of the Torre - just the viewpoint!

Our return to Amalfi was via the Valle dei Mulini (Valley of the Mills) where the track takes you past the remains of 11 paper mills. The water from the River Canneto was channeled into canals to power the paper making machinery in the 18th century.

Fun Fact 1: Atrani takes up an area of only 0.12 km2 making it the smallest community in all of Italy.

Fun Fact 2: In the early 16th century, Giovanna D'Aragona, the Duchess of Amalfi, was locked up in the Torre Della Ziro after being accused of having an affair with the court butler and she was later beheaded.

Fun Fact 3: Amalfi paper quality and production was so reliable that the Vatican was said to have contracted with Amalfi to produce all its official paper. Mozart also received a supply of Amalfi paper in exchange for a concert in the home of a wealthy Neapolitan nobleman.

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Comments

[Jane Lomax]

Stunning!

[Jane Lomax]

That's more like it!