Why this ride
70 km from Sorrento to Sorrento, about 1 h 47 of riding. On the way it passes Torre Annunziata: Villa A, Torre Annunziata: Villa B, Archaeological Areas of Pompei and Villa dei Misteri.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sorrento afternoon · Villa dei Misteri
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 70 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 47
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 21 km this is Amalfi Coast Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 29 km
- Named road
- Amalfi Coast Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Sorrento
Sorrento sits on top of a cliff, and the whole town is aware of the drop. It lies on the northern side of the peninsula that separates the Bay of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno, about fifty metres above the water, with Vesuvius filling the view across the bay and the island of Capri visible from the headlands. Lemon groves, some of them netted against frost, cover the slopes behind the town, and the lemons are the foundation of limoncello, the sweet yellow liqueur that is sold in every shop. According to myth, this is the coast of the Sirens, who lured sailors onto the rocks with their singing.
Read the complete Sorrento write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sorrento 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 7 km in. 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 16 km in you reach Torre Annunziata: Villa B. Next is Archaeological Areas of Pompei.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Villa dei Misteri.
5. 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 sits at 26 km, about halfway. Next is back through Archaeological Areas of Pompei.
6. back through Archaeological Areas of Pompei
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Archaeological Areas of Pompei comes up 33 km in. 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
39 km in 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 Sorrento.
9. Sorrento
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sorrento 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 70 km.
Leg by leg
Sorrento to Torre Annunziata: Villa A
Sorrento → Torre Annunziata: Villa A is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Torre Annunziata: Villa B to Archaeological Areas of Pompei
Torre Annunziata: Villa B → Archaeological Areas of Pompei is 4 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Archaeological Areas of Pompei to back through Torre Annunziata: Villa B
back through Archaeological Areas of Pompei → back through Torre Annunziata: Villa B is 1 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A to Sorrento
back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A → Sorrento is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.