Why this ride
A 131 km round trip from Montecalvario - roughly 2 h 24 in the saddle. The stops in between: Torre Annunziata: Villa A, Costiera Amalfitana and back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Historical Centre of Naples and Costiera Amalfitana
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 131 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 24
- 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 41 km this is Amalfi Coast Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 41 km
- Named road
- Amalfi Coast Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Historical Centre of Naples
Naples does not wait until you are ready. The historic centre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in Europe, founded by Greek settlers as Neapolis, the new city, in the sixth century BC, and the grid they laid out is still visible in the long straight street the locals call Spaccanapoli. Roman, Byzantine, Norman, Angevin, Aragonese, Spanish and Bourbon rulers each added a layer, and UNESCO listed the centre in 1995 as one of the great palimpsests of European history.
Read the complete Historical Centre of Naples write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historical Centre of 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 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Costiera Amalfitana.
3. Costiera Amalfitana
The Amalfi coast road is the reason many riders first dreamed of Italy, and it lives up to the legend and then some, with a few catches. The SS163 Amalfitana, carved into the cliffs above the sea in the nineteenth century, winds along the southern side of the Sorrento peninsula from Positano to Vietri sul Mare, with hundreds of bends, sheer drops, tunnels, bridges and villages clinging to the rocks. Amalfi itself, a small town of about five thousand people at the mouth of a ravine, was once a powerful maritime republic that rivalled Venice and Genoa in the Middle Ages, and its cathedral, with its striped facade and Arab-Norman cloister, is a reminder of that glory.
Read the complete Costiera Amalfitana write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 66 km into the recorded legs you reach Costiera Amalfitana. Next is back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A.
4. 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 Historical Centre of Naples.
5. Historical Centre of Naples
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historical Centre of Naples write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Historical Centre of Naples. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Historical Centre of Naples to Torre Annunziata: Villa A
Historical Centre of Naples → Torre Annunziata: Villa A is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Torre Annunziata: Villa A to Costiera Amalfitana
Torre Annunziata: Villa A → Costiera Amalfitana is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Costiera Amalfitana to back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A
Costiera Amalfitana → back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A to Historical Centre of Naples
back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A → Historical Centre of Naples is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.