Scarrupata di Barano
Barano d'Ischia (NA)
Hidden gemFree beaches
The story
The name says it all: scarrupata, meaning collapsed. A wall of coloured clays fallen into the sea, and at the bottom a beach of big pebbles that its own inaccessibility saved from concrete. For the people of Ischia it is a place of the soul.
Access
FREE, no facilities. Long, steep descent on foot
More gems in Barano d'Ischia
- In the water & diving
Fonte di Nitrodi
Barano d'Ischia (NA)
Water that gushes warm among the rocks as it did two thousand years ago, when the Romans offered it to the nymphs: here the skin finds its calm.
- In the water & diving
Fonte delle Ninfe Nitrodi
Barano d'Ischia (NA)
A garden of springs where waters once dear to Apollo and the nymphs flow, among olive trees and open-air pools, far from the sound of the sea below.
- In the water & diving
Terme di Cavascura
Barano d'Ischia (NA)
In a gorge carved into the rock, pools and grottoes used since antiquity: you descend a canyon to plunge into scalding waters gushing from the mountain.
- Free beaches
Spiaggia dei Maronti
Barano d'Ischia (NA)
The island's longest beach, golden beneath walls of tufo (volcanic tuff), where in places the sand steams and the seawater warms itself.
- Nature & hiking
Grotta del Mago
Barano d'Ischia (NA)
The fishermen who took shelter here during storms swore they saw an old man with a silver beard sitting on the rocks, surrounded by three dancing women. Also called Grotta del Tempio del Sole, it was even sought by the Nazis, convinced it hid a doorway to the underworld.
- Hiking
Piano Liguori
Barano d'Ischia (NA)
The gentlest and most beautiful path on the island: you walk between rows of vines and cellars dug into the tufo (volcanic tuff), with the sea 300 metres below and Capri on the horizon. A few families still live here, and you can only get there on foot.
More gems: Free beaches
Free beachesIsola
Posillipo
The "cursed" island: owners struck by suicides and misfortune (Agnelli, Getty); a marine protected area with submerged ruins; guided snorkelling with CSI Gaiola ~€20, glass-bottom boat ~€12; 150 steps.
Free beachesParco Sommerso della Gaiola
Posillipo
Two islets of tufo (volcanic tuff) joined by a fragile arch, a marine protected area: you swim above submerged Roman ruins while the legend speaks of a cursed island.
- Free beaches
Lido delle Monache / spiaggia libera di Posillipo e Riva Fiorita
Posillipo
Tiny coves among the rocks, once the bathing place of the nuns of a convent above the sea: almost secret free beaches, reachable mostly from the water.
- Free beaches
Baia di Trentaremi
Posillipo
A bay closed in by high cliffs of yellow tufo (volcanic tuff), with caves cut by the Romans: no road reaches it, only the sea and the kayaks slip in among the rocks.
- Free beaches
Capo Miseno e porticciolo di Acquamorta
Bacoli/Monte di Procida
The headland that closes the gulf and, at its foot, the little harbour of Acquamorta with the boats hauled ashore and the water shallow and clear.
Free beachesBaia di Ieranto
Nerano
The bay protected by the FAI that looks across at the Faraglioni of Capri, reachable only on foot among olive trees and scrub, with the clear water of an old quarry.