Why this ride
57 km from Naples to Naples, about 1 h 12 of riding. The stops in between: Torre Annunziata: Villa A, Torre Annunziata: Villa B, Villa dei Misteri and Archaeological Areas of Pompei.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Naples afternoon · Archaeological Areas of Pompei
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 57 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 12
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Amalfi Coast Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 1 km this is Amalfi Coast Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 1 km
- Named road
- Amalfi Coast Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Naples
Naples is loud, fast and generous, and it does not much care what you thought of it before you arrived. Almost a million people live in the city proper, and a good many of them seem to be on scooters, so the first rule of riding here is to pick a line and hold it. Cars stop where they like, pedestrians cross on faith, and horns are a form of conversation. It sounds worse than it is: the traffic has a rhythm, and once you find it, it flows.
Read the complete Naples write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Naples is where the day begins. Next is Torre Annunziata: Villa A.
2. Torre Annunziata: Villa A
In the busy, scruffy town of Torre Annunziata, on the coast south of Naples, a high wall hides one of the most extraordinary Roman villas ever found. Villa A at Oplontis, often called the Villa of Poppaea because it is thought to have belonged to the family of Nero's second wife, was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 and rediscovered in the eighteenth century, with large-scale excavations in the twentieth. It is part of the UNESCO site that includes Pompeii and Herculaneum, but sees a fraction of their visitors, which is one of its great pleasures.
Read the complete Torre Annunziata: Villa A write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Torre Annunziata: Villa A comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Torre Annunziata: Villa B.
3. Torre Annunziata: Villa B
Under the shadow of Vesuvius, in the middle of a modern working town, there is a Roman villa that was buried in the same eruption of AD 79 that destroyed Pompeii. Torre Annunziata stands on the ancient site of Oplontis, a seaside suburb of Pompeii, and its two excavated villas are part of the UNESCO listing of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata, inscribed in 1997. Villa A, the grander one, is famous for its frescoes and is linked with Poppaea Sabina, the wife of Nero. Villa B, the one on this ride, is different, a commercial building where wine and other goods were stored and traded, with a large courtyard and many amphorae found when it was dug up.
Read the complete Torre Annunziata: Villa B write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 23 km into the recorded legs you reach Torre Annunziata: Villa B. Next is Villa dei Misteri.
4. Villa dei Misteri
Outside the walls of Pompeii, a few hundred metres from the Herculaneum Gate, stands a villa that holds one of the strangest paintings in the Roman world. The Villa of the Mysteries was a large country house and wine estate, and in one of its rooms a continuous frieze, nearly life-sized, runs around all four walls against a vivid red background, the famous Pompeian red. The figures include women, a young initiate, a satyr, a winged figure with a whip and the god Dionysus himself, and they seem to show a ritual of initiation into his cult, though nobody has ever been sure of the exact meaning. The paintings date from about the middle of the first century BC, some decades before the eruption.
Read the complete Villa dei Misteri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa dei Misteri, about halfway. Next is Archaeological Areas of Pompei.
5. Archaeological Areas of Pompei
Pompeii is the most famous ruin in the world, and it deserves its fame in a way that is hard to explain until you have walked its streets. In AD 79 Vesuvius erupted for two days, burying the town under about four metres of pumice and ash, and what was left was a Roman provincial city caught mid-sentence, with graffiti on the walls, loaves in an oven and a dog chained in a doorway. The letters of Pliny the Younger describe the eruption from across the bay, and they are the first account of a volcanic event by an eyewitness. Excavations began in 1748, and about two-thirds of the town is now uncovered.
Read the complete Archaeological Areas of Pompei write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Archaeological Areas of Pompei sits at 29 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa dei Misteri.
6. back through Villa dei Misteri
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa dei Misteri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa dei Misteri comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Torre Annunziata: Villa B.
7. back through Torre Annunziata: Villa B
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Torre Annunziata: Villa B write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Torre Annunziata: Villa B. Next is back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A.
8. back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Torre Annunziata: Villa A write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A, late in the day. Next is Naples.
9. Naples
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Naples write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 57 km.
Leg by leg
Naples to Torre Annunziata: Villa A
Naples → Torre Annunziata: Villa A is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A to Naples
back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A → Naples is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.