FROM BOMERANO TO PRAIA BEACH

length: 2 Km • walking time: 2 h • starting point: piazza Paolo Capasso, Bomerano

A pleasant walk downhill, passing through a quite valley rich in Mediterranean vegetation, to arrive at a picturesque bay between the cliffs of Marina di Praia, perhaps to bathe or to taste some fish.

Path information
From piazza Capasso (Bomerano), enter via Pennino and walk 300 m corresponding with some stone steps, and bare left in the direction of the Pennino path. Enter the steps following the numerous wooden signs posted along the route, then after about 500 m downhill, follow along the River Pennino leading to the foot of the Grotto of St. Barbara. Path 14 begins here. Just past the cave, you encounter a crossroad of which you take the right following it along a narrow, descending, stepped path. Proceed along the first stretch that alternates between stone steps and a path for about 500 m, until arriving at another crossroad just after an abandoned home. You continue downhill for another 700 m or so, until you reach another crossroad. You proceed downhill keeping to the right until you reach the main road, where you cross over to enter steps that take you down, and lead you to the bridge of Marina della Praia.

Valuable information and points of interest
This path essentially follows the medieval mule track which connected Agerola at Praiano until the opening of the new road between Bomerano and Amalfi in 1935. But already, in the late prehistoric era (see archaeological finds at the Civic Museum of Agerola), this descent landing in Praia, must have been vital for the commercial exchanges between the shepherds that lived in the agerolese highlands.
Walking the first section you are confronted with a high, pink cliff in which open several cavities, including the Grotto of St. Barbara (with the remains of sacred buildings of the X and XI century; see Path 12). You are warned that the climb to the higher caves is dangerous and is reserved for expert climbers. Leaving Path 12 to descend to the bottom of the valley, you will notice both 'macerine' (dry walls) and some large steps that stupefy because of their large dimensions and the heavy use of the blocks used in their construction. The long stretch that wanders along the side of the Vallone Praia, shows all of the changing aspects of the vegetation that characterizes the low to mid slopes of the coast (see par. 2.3), dominated by evergreen Sclerophyllous, often fragrant. In the meantime you can look up at the summit of Mt. Tre Calli and down into the narrow gorge leading to the end of the valley, flanked by the medieval watchtower of Sciola. Just as the 'fjord' of Furore, the Marina di Praia is a 'ria', a ravine excavated from channeled water (not from a glacier, as in a real 'fjord'), and then partially submerged by the sea before rising back to its present level. Those with a passion for geology can observe on the cliff walls to the east side of the beach, the fault lines that cracked the rock when it was born out of a collapse, thus creating the Gulf of Salerno  ... without taking away too much time from enjoying the aesthetic of this characteristic corner of the Divina Costiera (Amalfi Coast)!