Why this ride
229 km from Posillipo to Posillipo, about 4 h 21 of riding. The stops in between: Torre Annunziata: Villa A, Costiera Amalfitana, Torre Annunziata: Villa B and back through Costiera Amalfitana.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Marechiaro and Torre Annunziata: Villa B
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 229 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 21
- 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. Marechiaro
There is a song about Marechiaro, and for once the song is not exaggerating. The little fishing hamlet on the Posillipo headland, at the western edge of the Bay of Naples, inspired a poem by Salvatore Di Giacomo in the 1880s about a window and a flower, and Francesco Paolo Tosti set it to music, so that "Marechiare" has been sung in Neapolitan kitchens and concert halls ever since. Locals will point out the so-called Fenestella, a small window on a wall above the sea, as the very one. Whether the poet had it in mind or not is a matter for a pleasant argument over a plate of fried fish.
Read the complete Marechiaro write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Marechiaro 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 32 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 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Costiera Amalfitana. Next is Torre Annunziata: Villa B.
4. 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
Torre Annunziata: Villa B, about halfway. Next is back through Costiera Amalfitana.
5. back through Costiera Amalfitana
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Costiera Amalfitana sits at 107 km, about halfway. Next is back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A.
6. 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 comes up about 195 km into the recorded legs. Next is Marechiaro.
7. Marechiaro
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Marechiaro write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Marechiaro closes the day.
Leg by leg
Marechiaro to Torre Annunziata: Villa A
Marechiaro → Torre Annunziata: Villa A is 32 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 Torre Annunziata: Villa B
Costiera Amalfitana → Torre Annunziata: Villa B is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Torre Annunziata: Villa B to back through Costiera Amalfitana
Torre Annunziata: Villa B → back through Costiera Amalfitana is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Costiera Amalfitana to back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A
back through 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 Marechiaro
back through Torre Annunziata: Villa A → Marechiaro is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.