Salita del Petraio
Napoli (NA)
Hidden gemHiking
The story
Five hundred steps dropping from the Vomero down to Chiaia along an ancient watercourse, among bassi (ground-floor homes), washing lines, cats and little gardens. At every turn the bay reappears, and there is not a single tourist.
Access
FREE, public street, always walkable
More gems in Napoli
Sacred artCappella Sansevero (Cristo Velato)
Napoli (NA)
Beneath a veil of marble that still seems to breathe, Sanmartino's Cristo Velato rests in the chapel's half-light, and the whiteness of the stone deceives every eye.
Sacred artDuomo di Napoli
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Three times a year the city holds its breath as the blood of San Gennaro waits to liquefy, among Gothic naves and the gold of the chapel devoted to him.
Sacred artCappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro
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Behind a bronze gate lie silverware, gems and the jewel-studded mitre of the saint: a treasure heaped up over centuries by the devotion of Naples.
Sacred artChiesa del Gesù Nuovo
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The facade of pyramid-cut piperno stone hides symbols carved into the blocks, while inside the Baroque bursts out in marble and in the memory of the physician Giuseppe Moscati.
Sacred artChiostro di Santa Chiara
Napoli
A garden of pillars clad in yellow and blue majolica, where lemon pergolas and eighteenth-century scenes painted on the tiles keep the noise of the city at bay.
Sacred artChiesa di Santa Luciella ai Librai (teschio con le orecchie)
Napoli
In the crypt of a small church rediscovered in the maze of the Librai rests the skull with ears, which the faithful believed could listen to their prayers.
More gems: Hiking
HikingScala Fenicia
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The ancient stone stairway that for centuries was the only link between Marina Grande and Anacapri, step after step up the face of the mountain.
- Hiking
Sentiero degli Dei
Agerola→Nocelle
The path that runs along the mountainside between Agerola and Nocelle, suspended above the coast: terraces, dry-stone walls and the sea opening all the way to the Faraglioni of Capri.
- Hiking
Ponte Tibetano di Laviano
Laviano (SA)
Ninety metres suspended over the Vallone delle Conche: on the Tibetan bridge of Laviano you walk through the void amid the woods, your gaze running all the way to the Sele valley.
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Zipline 'Volo dell'Angelo' di Trentinara
Trentinara (SA)
Sixteen hundred metres of cable strung above the gorges of the Cilento: hooked to the Volo dell'Angelo of Trentinara, you glide toward the gulf of Salerno at the speed of the wind.
- Hiking
Zipline del Fiordo di Furore
Furore (SA)
Seven hundred metres of cable cross the fjord of Furore to Conca dei Marini: a flight of a few instants suspended between the rock walls and the blue of the coast.
HikingValle delle Ferriere
Amalfi (SA)
Above Amalfi the trail climbs a damp valley of waterfalls and prehistoric ferns, among the ruins of the old ironworks swallowed by the vegetation.