Why this ride
A 77 km round trip from Pompei - roughly 1 h 41 in the saddle. It goes by way of Herculaneum, District of Casale and Santo Strato and back through Herculaneum. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Pompeii and District of Casale and Santo Strato
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 77 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 41
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Pompeii
Nobody in Pompeii knew that Vesuvius was a volcano. The town had been shaken by a violent earthquake in 62 AD and was still rebuilding in August 79, when the mountain exploded, burying the streets under a rain of pumice and then a hot flow of ash. About two thousand people died in the town, and the ash preserved bread in ovens, graffiti on walls, ruts in the stone roads and the hollows left by bodies. Excavation began in 1748, and in the 1860s the archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli poured plaster into the hollows to produce the figures you see in the museum. UNESCO listed the archaeological areas of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 1997.
Read the complete Pompeii write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pompeii is where the day begins. Next is Herculaneum.
2. Herculaneum
On the morning of 24 August in AD 79, as the story is usually told, Vesuvius blew its top, and Herculaneum, a small seaside town on the Bay of Naples, was buried under around twenty metres of volcanic material. Pompeii gets the headlines because it was buried in ash and pumice, but Herculaneum was overwhelmed by superheated surges of gas and ash, and that violence did something kinder to the evidence: it carbonised wood. Roof beams, doors, beds, shop shutters and even food were preserved in a way that Pompeii cannot match, and the town feels smaller, closer and more intact.
Read the complete Herculaneum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Herculaneum comes up 18 km in. Next is District of Casale and Santo Strato.
3. District of Casale and Santo Strato
Posillipo takes its name from a Greek phrase meaning a pause from pain, and the Romans, who knew a good view when they saw one, covered the ridge with villas. It is the green promontory that divides the Bay of Naples from the Gulf of Pozzuoli, a hill of soft yellow tuff thrown up by the volcanoes of the Phlegraean Fields, and its western slope falls into the sea in cliffs and small coves. The Casale and Santo Strato district sits on the sea side of the hill, where terraced gardens, old walls and tiny ports survived the building boom that swallowed so much of Naples.
Read the complete District of Casale and Santo Strato write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
36 km in you reach District of Casale and Santo Strato. Next is back through Herculaneum.
4. back through Herculaneum
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Herculaneum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Herculaneum, late in the day. Next is Pompeii.
5. Pompeii
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pompeii write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Pompeii. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Pompeii to Herculaneum
Pompeii → Herculaneum is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Herculaneum to District of Casale and Santo Strato
Herculaneum → District of Casale and Santo Strato is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
District of Casale and Santo Strato to back through Herculaneum
District of Casale and Santo Strato → back through Herculaneum is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Herculaneum to Pompeii
back through Herculaneum → Pompeii is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.