Monte Faito e il Molare
Vico Equense
KnownNature
The story
Beech woods a step from the sea, where the Molare marks the highest summit of the Lattari and on clear days the eye travels from Ischia to the Cilento.
Access
cable car SUSPENDED (2025 accident, EAV), trails and road FREE
The story
Monte Faito is the highest and most wooded part of the Lattari Mountains, above Castellammare di Stabia and Vico Equense. The name comes from the beeches — «faito» — that cover its slopes, some centuries old. A little higher rises the Molare, at about 1,444 metres the highest point of the Lattari. A mountain balcony suspended over the Gulf of Naples, a step from the sea.
What to see
Beech woods cool even in summer, scenic paths and belvederes that range from the gulf to the Sorrento peninsula, as far as Capri. On the mountain are a sanctuary dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel and ancient hiking routes. It is a goal loved by those who seek coolness and walks a stone's throw from the city.
Hours and prices
Free entry.
Il monte è sempre accessibile in auto e a piedi. La funivia da Castellammare è SOSPESA dopo l'incidente dell'aprile 2025, non ancora riaperta nel 2026 (EAV).
Tips
You go up to Faito by car along the panoramic road, or on foot along the paths from Castellammare or Vico Equense, for fit hikers. The historic cable car from Castellammare, in operation since 1952, was suspended after the accident of April 2025: before planning the climb by cable car, check whether the service has been restored.
Frequently asked questions
What is Monte Faito?
The highest and most wooded part of the Lattari Mountains, above Castellammare di Stabia and Vico Equense, covered with beeches; a little higher rises the Molare, the highest point of the Lattari (about 1,444 m).
How do you get up Monte Faito?
By car along the panoramic road or on foot along the paths from Castellammare and Vico Equense. The historic cable car from Castellammare was suspended after the accident of April 2025: check whether it is back in service.
What can you see from Faito?
Centuries-old beech woods, paths and belvederes over the Gulf of Naples and the Sorrento peninsula as far as Capri, as well as the sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel.
More gems in Vico Equense
◆ Free beachesMarina di Seiano
Vico Equense
The little harbour of Vico Equense beneath the tufo (volcanic tuff) walls, with the fishermen's boats, the bathing clubs on the rocks and a reef that shelters the water from the wind.
HikingMonte Faito
Vico Equense (NA)
Above the gulf of Naples the Faito covers itself in cool beech woods, a destination of panoramic ridges where in summer you breathe mountain air a stone's throw from the sea.
◆ Sacred artCattedrale dell'Annunziata di Vico
Vico Equense (NA)
Clinging to a spur of tufo (volcanic tuff) sheer above the sea, the Annunziata is the peninsula's only Gothic cathedral: inside, the half-light; outside, the Bay of Naples flung wide open.
◆ MuseumsMuseo Mineralogico Campano
Vico Equense (NA)
In a seventeenth-century former convent of Vico Equense, thousands of minerals from all over the world gathered by a single enthusiast, down to a fragment of graphene donated by a Nobel laureate.
- ◆ Views & panoramas
Punta Scutolo e belvedere di Arola/Monte Comune
Vico Equense
The headland that divides two gulfs and, higher up, the plateau of Monte Comune above Arola, from where the eye takes in Naples and Salerno in a single sweep of the horizon.
More gems: Nature
◆ NatureOrto Botanico
via Foria
Founded in the Napoleonic age, the botanical garden on via Foria lines up glasshouses, palms and rare species across twelve hectares: a green breath a step away from the traffic.
◆ NaturePedamentina di San Martino
Vomero→centro
A fourteenth-century stairway dropping from the hill of San Martino down to the city: hundreds of steps through vegetable plots, gardens and glimpses of the bay — one of the finest urban paths in Naples.
NatureVilla Comunale
Riviera di Chiaia
The garden stretched out along the sea at Chiaia: avenues of holm oaks, benches and old statues, with the gulf breathing beyond the iron railing.
NatureAcquario Anton Dohrn
Riviera di Chiaia
The oldest aquarium in Europe, opened in 1874 inside the Villa Comunale: historic tanks inhabited only by the fauna of the Gulf of Naples, behind the glass.
NatureSolfatara
Pozzuoli
The ground breathes: hissing fumaroles, mud that boils up and a smell of sulphur reminding you how alive the earth is beneath the Campi Flegrei.
- ◆ Nature
Vigna di San Martino
collina S. Martino
One of the largest urban vineyards in Europe, worked by the Carthusians since the fourteenth century: seven hectares of vines, citrus and olive trees hanging over the bay, a step from the city's chaos.