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Massa
Lubrense (20 sq.km) is virtually triangular in shape - its north-eastern side
borders with Sorrento, whilst the other two sides are formed by the Gulf of
Salerno and the Bay of Naples, with Punta della Campanella at its vertex, facing
the island of Capri, just 5 km away.
From the administrative point of view, apart from the main town there are another 17 villages which have developed from the ancient hamlets and are still linked by an intricate network of paths, mule tracks and lanes as well as by the main roads. In 1990, 22 footpaths (covering a total 110 km) were located by Giovanni Visetti set back from the main roads, the noise and the large urban centres. The routes illustrated in this brochure are also marked along the actual pathways with two-coloured stripes which become more frequent and evident in the proximity of crossing points and turnings, where you can also often find ceramic tiles bearing the same coloured signs and indicating the direction to follow and the distance between the various villages.
This system of signs means that anyone can go from
one place to another without taking the wrong turning or ending up in a dead end
and ensures that you are in fact following the right path which is not
necessarily the shortest but is without doubt the most interesting and panoramic.
These
walks will take you through lemon and olive groves, alone mule tracks and
footpaths, through copses of chestnut and oak trees to reach ancient villages,
vast uninhabited areas submerged in thick
Mediterranean vegetation, lime cliffs dropping steeply down to sea,
archaeological remains, Saracen towers and scenic viewpoints. Even the most
expert excursionists used to the beauties of the mountain trails with their
snowy peaks and verdant valleys cannot fail to be enchanted by these vast
panoramas where the sea and the mountains merge offering magnificent views of
the Lattari mountains, the Bay of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno with
their islands and rocks.
The
walks are divided into 5 categories:
Round walks
(C1
to C7) - which start and end in the same place but follow a quite different
return route. They have been planned in such a way as to be inter-linked with at
least 2 other walks with a short stretch in common or connected by an
inter-linking path.
Excursions
(E1
to E4) -like the round walks they have the same point of arrival and departure,
but here the route is identical or almost both there and back. Excursions are
far from the inhabited centres and have destinations which can only be reached
on foot and where it is impossible to return by public transport.
Traverses
(T1
to T4) - arrival and departure points are distant from eacb other. Three of
these walks descend from high ground down to sea level and the fourth covers the
entire West coast of Massa. For each of these walks you can return to the
departure point by public transport.
Walks to Sorrento
(S1
to S5) - these follow the ancient routes starting from Massa (S1 - S2),
Monticchio (S3) and S. Agata (S4 - S5).
Mountain Walk along the Monti Lattari
(CAI1 and CAI2) - indicated by the Italian Alpine Club in the late 80's,
this long trail runs along the entire ridge of the Sorrento-Amalfi peninsula
from Cava de' Tirreni to Punta della Campanella; the last two
stages of this walk have been
included in this guide.
The
itineraries have been planned so that they are inter-linked and have a length
and change of altitude that can be covered in two to three hours.
Obviously the time will vary according to the amount of time spent by the
individual at the points of interest along the way.
Exceptions
are the Traverses (difference in altitude 300-400 metres), which can be walked
in descent returning by public transport, and the Excursions where it is
impossible to avoid uphill stretches since they go to isolated destinations
following specific routes which can sometimes be steep. The longest is the
excursion to Punta della Campanella from Termini (a little over 6 km) which is
uphill all the way back with a difference in altitude of about 300 metres; the
mule track linking Torca to Crapolla is also very steep (350 metre difference)
and is to be avoided in ascent when it is very hot.
Walking
along these paths you may admire the picturesque villages and the beauties of
the rural environment with its terraced olive groves and their white dry-stone walls (murecine), its lemon and orange groves with their straw-covered
trellises (pagliarelle), its buildings
in the characteristic tuff stone with their classical archways and outside
stairs, whilst in the less developed areas you can observe the vast variety of
vegetation growing spontaneously not only in the wild, but also along the stream
banks, at the path edges and in the cracks of the walls.
Here
you can find brooms and spurges, mastic and myrtle, juniper and rosemary,
asphodel, ivy, pine trees, holm-oaks and hay-oaks, to name but a few. You can
also see plants suited to tropical climates such as the agave, the cactus and
the rare dwarf-palm (Chamaerops humilis).Finally
worth noting is a plant endemic to the area of the Punta della Campanella and
Capri: the Litodora (Lithodora
rosmarinifolia), whose splendid blue flowers stand out in winter.
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