Pro Agerola - Pro Loco di Agerola

lenght: 6,5 km • walking time: 3h • starting point: via Roma, Pianillo

Circuit leaving from the Church of St. Peter the Apostle in Pianillo, it winds along an old mule track until it reaches the vehicular via Cavallo. Turn left until you reach the path 5 and continue to Crocelle, Colle Sughero and Colle St. Angel, with a suggestive scenery of the Gulf of Naples.

length: 3 Km • walking time: 1 h • starting point: via Inserrata, Campora

Circular route the begins near the Sports Arena and flanks the Penise stream in a green valley between chestnut forest. Along the way you will encounter beautiful ancient dwellings, at the start of the path, and the ruin of an old Bourbon gun powder factory. A pleasant walk leading up to the bed of Penise stream

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)!

length: 1,5 Km • walking time: 1 h • starting point: piazza Generale Avitabile, S. Lazzaro or piazza Paolo Capasso, Bomerano

Path information

Walking Path 12, from Bomerano or from St. Lazzaro, reaching the crossroad of via Lamaro and main road between Agerola and Amalfi, you take the steps that lead to the church of St. Michael. Along the route you intersect the main road more than once. You follow the steps until reaching Porpore, where you cross over the main road and at the west shoulder of the bridge over the 'fjord' of Furore, take the steps that descend to the beach that is at the bottom (Marina di Furore).

To return to Agerola, you can take the SITA bus service to Amalfi, with a connection to Agerola.

Valuable information ​​and points of interest

Along the descent through Furore, you walk among terraced fields torn tenaciously into the steep topography of the area, and laid mostly to vine and lemon trees. Here and there are examples of typical Amalfitana architecture (homes with roof-covered porticoes with arches, that at times are meticulously decorated), while admiring the promontory of Capo di Conca and the shape of the Cilento beyond the Gulf. Once past the hamlet of Porpora and heading down into the deep and narrow gorge at the end of the Rio Penise, one can comprehend the reason it was baptized Schiato, a word of Greek origin (from skiathos) which means fracture boundary. Its sheer walls make it look like as if it happened as a result of a sudden tectonic movement when in fact, it is the fruit of long, fluvial erosion. In the past, it really represented an insurmountable border until the bold, bridge of the coastal state road, reunited the opposing walls. The last flight of steps before reaching the bottom, passes through the picturesque fishing village of Marina Furoris, the attraction of which lies in the various simple, yet elegant lines of houses. For their closeness, almost crouching in the narrow space afforded them by the rocky walls. A short walk from the homes is a shoreline penetrated into the gorge as a result of a rising sea level which happened after the last glaciations. Finally advancing inland you can visit the chapel in the cave, of St. Catherine of Alexandria, protector of millers and old water mills, and also three mills and two paper mills which were recently restored and made museums.