A day hike

So, our intrepid adventurers decided to go walk the famous “Path of the Gods” trail above the coastline of Amalfi. One problem…we wanted to do it the day after we had a very Italian meal of 4 hours duration with multiple cocktails (for E) and many glasses of wine and limoncello for BFD. We made it to bed around midnight and didn’t see the dawns early light…we stayed in bed and hung out around our little town of Atrani with a shopping trip to the supermercado in Amalfi, sigh.

Fast forward a day and we decide to make up for the missed hike with a trip to Ravello and a walk from there to Atrani. Now, if you google the Amalfi coast you will see that before there were crops here, the locals built and climbed steps and stairs cut into the hillsides. They then started a terraced agriculture community that is famous the world round. On this side of the coast range of mountains there is only one road that connects all the towns but there are hundreds of trails and millions of steps. The locals still use these trails and stairways to access their farms, homes, towns, beaches, churches and just to visit the neighbors. These steps and trails are the actual main thoroughfare for life in these hills. They are so intimidating that they acted as a deterrent to the invading forces of some foreign powers for over 800 years, giving the populace an avenue of escape. The road is narrow and dangerous and often takes far longer than walking up or down the numerous prevalent trails. For example; the elevation at Atrani is, of course, 0 feet above sea level. Ravello lies at about 1,200 feet elevation. It takes about 45 minutes to get there via road and about the same by foot (if you’re a local and are moving with purpose). The pathway contains thousands of steps and stairs that are mostly poured concrete with limestone rocks for edging but sometimes the steps are just limestone blocks. Some have very deep treads and some are typical american depth treads. Some are in good shape and some are crumbling and age worn. These pathways and stairs have seen hundreds of years of foot traffic as the main way to reach these little towns.

In any case, we awoke early, made sandwiches and filled water bottles. Shod in hiking togs with trekking sticks in hand, we headed to Amalfi to catch the open top tour bus to Ravello. We decided this approach would be the most fun, allowing us to arrive in Ravello rested and ready to tackle the infamous stairs. We arrived in Ravello and headed to the main square where we partook of some quick carbs and coffee and sought out the trailhead. With the trusty tourist map of the Amalfi coast walks in our hands and a google found hike guide downloaded we feel fairly confident of conquering this ancient trail. Our experience hiking on cairn guided trails in the American Southwest and unmarked forest trails in the Pacific Northwest lulling us into a false sense of security.

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A side note about Bogart. They filmed a number of movies along this coast and one of the American ones was “Beat the Devil” with Bogey and Gina Lollobrigida. The cast and crew stayed in Ravello and played a lot of poker in the local caffe.

The stairs initially present as one would expect, kind of innocuously as a way to leave the main road. The feeling of “just stairs” fades quickly as we enter the time tested method of moving about this coastal range. The feeling of age is everywhere in Italy but I find the feeling of age is almost overwhelming to me on these steps. The limestone rock retaining walls, the aged concrete, the time and foot worn stones. There are ancient iron gates that break the edges of the pathway that lead to terraces, some being currently cultivated and some showing signs of long term inactivity (the entrances crumbling and leading into nothing but air where long ago steps were). And this is all before we leave Ravello.

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We look across the valley at ancient ruins of stone buildings that were old when the first Europeans came to America. The soaring view up to Scala and the falling valley to Atrani and Amalfi with the terracing for gardens and orchards all along the walls of the steep valley are breathtaking. As we descend the steps, we look into the yards and hidden lives of the residents of this hidden valley. You don’t even have to close your eyes to imagine how these coastal mountain people lived as it is revealed right before you today. There are caves and grottoes in the hillsides that make me think of hideouts from both the good guys and the bad and maybe a smugglers cave or two.

We follow a couple of signs to “Amalfi” that are made of ceramics and set either into the surface of the road or into the wall along the trail. We continue down until we hit the river for which this valley is named, the Dragone. We ask some directions from a very elderly woman who has passed us on the steps coming down and she gives us some in broken English along with our broken Italian and then she heads on the trail/stairs back up to the far town of Scala, her arms laden with bags of today’s shopping. Amazing people living in these hills.

We continue down the valley to a crossroad where BFD misreads the hiking directions and we turn back up a hill to the town of Pontone. Once he realizes his mistake a quick conference and we decide to see this town since we are here.

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This is another hill town with soaring vistas and immense history. Teacher Tom (overachieving runner that he is) has already jogged to this town) and told us of it’s beauty. We explored the town center along with our adopted dog escort. We don’t know where the little Corgi looking dog came from but he attached himself to us as we entered the town and stayed with us during our entire walk about town. We just put it down as another friendly Italian wanting to share his story with us. The buildings include everything from the Saracen tower to a shell only Byzantine era church overlooking the area from it’s hilltop perch. The center provided fresh water spigots for everyone’s use.

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We take advantage of the high vista of Pontone to review our path and descend back into the Valle de Dragone and drop into the historical textile mill area. This area was quite the textile producing area during the heyday of the Mediterranean trading dynasty that was the Republic of Amalfi. The mills were powered by the force of the Dragone river and fed by the raw materials brought back by the Amalfi traders. You can just imagine the industry here in it’s prime.

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We head on down into the more populated portion of the valley and discover a real workhorse of a pathway. There are old small cars, scooters and 3 wheel trucks here that the farmers use to transport larger items to town and bring in supplies.

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We finally head down into Atrani from the stairs but you never really leave the stairs behind. In town the trail doesn’t just let you out to a street or the square…no, you enter the rabbit warren of passage ways and stairs that lead to the houses and rooms that the residents call home. There is no access here for vehicles. Hearken back to our donkey delivery. If you need to move a large or heavy load in these towns you call 1-800-donkey. These passages are so narrow at times that I have to duck and turn kind of sideways.

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Our experience with this trek was very nice. There was a little consternation as we went astray from our plan when we misread directions but all played out perfect in the end. This beautiful valley full of such rich history and local folklore is well worth the walk! If we were in our 20’s again, we would have hit a lot more of the area as some of it is more than us leisurely explorers wanted to tackle. You should definitely visit the tourism office in Amalfi and speak with Rosella and get a copy of the Amalfi Coast map of the paths where you want to hike. These are well done and edited by the Italian mountaineering association. Despite BFD’s issue with managing a little fork in the road, this guide was very well done. I also downloaded instructions from the web and made them available offline and they were a great supplement to the official map.

Until next time…Get out and explore wherever you are! See you out there…

BFD

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