Why this ride
From Benevento it runs 214 km to Benevento; allow about 4 h 21 of riding. The stops in between: 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with, Historic Centre of Naples, Torre Annunziata: Villa A and back through Historic Centre of Naples.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Santa Sofia complex and Torre Annunziata: Villa A
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 214 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
The Santa Sofia complex → 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
The ride follows The Santa Sofia complex → 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with for 52 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 52 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Santa Sofia complex
Benevento has been a crossroads for about as long as there has been a road to cross, but the Santa Sofia complex belongs to a particular chapter, the Lombards. In the eighth century the duchy of Benevento was the last Lombard power in southern Italy, and Duke Arechis II built Santa Sofia as his palace church, around the 760s. It is a strange, beautiful building, a hexagon surrounded by a ring of columns and walls, with an odd star-like plan that has puzzled architects ever since. Inside the plain stone are traces of frescoes, and the later Romanesque cloister next door is a lovely quiet square. It is part of the UNESCO listing for the Longobards in Italy, which came in 2011.
Read the complete The Santa Sofia complex write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Santa Sofia complex is where the day begins. Next is 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with.
2. 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
When Charles of Bourbon, king of Naples, decided to build a royal palace to rival Versailles, he did not do things by halves. The Reggia di Caserta, begun in 1752 to a design by Luigi Vanvitelli, is one of the largest royal palaces in the world, with some twelve hundred rooms, four inner courtyards, a theatre and a grand staircase that has appeared in films including Star Wars, where it stood in for the palace of Naboo. Behind it, a park stretches for three kilometres up the hillside, with fountains, statues and a long chain of pools and cascades fed by an aqueduct that Vanvitelli built specially, ending at a great waterfall at the top.
Read the complete 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with comes up about 52 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of Naples.
3. Historic Centre of Naples
Naples is not a city you ride through so much as one you survive and then fall in love with. The historic centre, a UNESCO site since 1995, sits on the street plan of Neapolis, the Greek new city founded around the sixth century BC, and the three ancient decumani still run straight through it, the most famous being Spaccanapoli, the street that splits Naples in two. Along them, churches, palaces, shrines, workshops and laundry-hung alleys are packed together with an intensity found nowhere else in Europe.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Naples write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Centre of Naples. Next is Torre Annunziata: Villa A.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Historic Centre of Naples.
5. back through Historic Centre of Naples
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic 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 through Historic Centre of Naples sits at 149 km, about halfway. Next is back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with.
6. back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with comes up about 163 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Santa Sofia complex.
7. The Santa Sofia complex
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Santa Sofia complex write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Santa Sofia complex closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Santa Sofia complex to 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
The Santa Sofia complex → 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with to Historic Centre of Naples
18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with → Historic Centre of Naples is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Naples to Torre Annunziata: Villa A
Historic Centre of Naples → Torre Annunziata: Villa A is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Torre Annunziata: Villa A to back through Historic Centre of Naples
Torre Annunziata: Villa A → back through Historic Centre of Naples is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Naples to back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
back through Historic Centre of Naples → back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with to The Santa Sofia complex
back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with → The Santa Sofia complex is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.