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A Sailing Holiday between Sun and Myth
Our main base is in Naples, the capital of the region of Campania, a region with a fascination and ability to enchant. It is a region in which a rich and varied countryside is enriched with towns, villages, palaces, and religious buildings, all of them of important architectural and artistic value. But in almost all the centres of the Bay of Naples, even the smallest, there are many genuine artistic treasures.
The area is also known for the splendid Neapolitan islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida, the picturesque Sorrento and the spectacular Amalfi Coast. The ancients called this land "felix" (happiness) with good reason.
ITINERARIES FROM OUR BASE IN NAPLES
1 Week ca. 130 Nautical Miles
Napoli - (12 sm) Procida - (26 sm) Ventotene - (22 sm) Ponza - (5 sm) Palmarola - (5 sm) Zannone - (49 sm) Ischia - (16 sm) Napoli
1 Week ca. 110 Nautical Miles
Napoli - (12 sm) Procida - (26 sm) Ventotene - (22 sm) Ischia - (19 sm) Capri - (11 sm) Positano - (6 sm) Amalfi - (26 sm) Napoli
1 Week ca. 254 Nautical Miles with ONE – Way Naples Tropea
Napoli - (16 sm) Capri - (79 sm) Maratea - (74 sm) Stromboli - (19 sm) Lipari - (6 sm) Salina - (10 sm) Panarea – (40 Sm) Tropea
2 weeks ca. 190 nm
Napoli – Procida (12 m); Procida – Ventotene (26 m); Ventotene – Ponza (22 m); Ponza – Palmarola (5 m); Palmarola – Zannone (5 m); Zannone – Ischia (49 m); Ischia – Capri (13 m); Capri – Amalfi (16 m); Amalfi – Positano (6 m); Positano – Napoli (32 m)
2 weeks ca. 360 nm
Napoli –Capri (16 m); Capri – Maratea (79 m); Maratea – Stromboli (74 m); Stromboli – Lipari (19 m); Lipari – Salina (6 m); Salina – Panarea (10 m); Panarea – Palinuro (82 m); Palinuro – Postano (43 m); Positano - Amalfi(6 m); Amalfi - Napoli (26 m)
PARTENOPEAN ISLANDS
Ischia, Capri, Procida and Vivara: these are the partenopean islands in the bay of Naples. To the north of the gulf are situated Ischia, Procida and Vivara, looking toward the "Flegrea"coast, while in the south of the gulf, opposite to the Sorrento peninsula, lays Capri.
Ischia
Ischia is the largest island with her 47 square kilometres, the most beautiful and biggest island in the Gulf of Naples, Ischia is one of the most famous seaside and tourist centres of Italy in the world.
Today, the island of Ischia is a well-known tourist centre for four main reasons. Firstly, for its unequalled natural beauty, secondly, for its all-year-round mild climate, thirdly for its thermal water, and lastly for its modern tourist facilities. Everything from the sea to the mountain - including its harbours, the small bays, its convenient beaches and ports, the high rock face along its coast, the vegetation, the variety of the plant life, the pine trees and the myriads of multi-coloured flowers - make Ischia one of the most beautiful islands.
Capri
Just off the coast of Naples and Salerno, between Cape Miseno and Amalfi, a great rock soars like a dream lost in the cobalt blue sea that surrounds it. This Mediterranean jewel, yearned for and exalted in some of the world's most famous lyric poetry, is the island of Capri. The intoxicating fragrance of flowers, delicate splashes of colour, recollections of a millennial past and a peaceful charm, shattered only by the shrill cry of seagulls, are just some of the magical qualities of this mythical isle.
Procida
Of the islands embellishing the Gulf of Naples, Procida, an isle about four square kilometres large and laid halfway between the extreme projection of the Phlegraean Fields and the isle of Ischia, is the one which has best succeeded in preserving its original, genuine beauty, unpolluted nature and simplicity of life, together with its century-old traditions.
AMALFI–COAST
Amalfi Coast has a mixture of history and nature, all to discover; from the Cathedral of Amalfi, to the villas in Ravello and the numerous churches built during the historical period of Amalfi's Republic. Here you can find distinctive ceramics, limoncello the local lemon liqueur, and the prized mozzarella di bufala.
Amalfi
A quiet and picturesque seaside resort with a temperate climate and incomparable natural beauty.
Positano
Positano has been defined as a "vertical village", leaning against a rocky wall, full of charming multicoloured houses.
Sorrento
A famous resort town for the Romans, even then known for its perfumed orange and lemon grows and its magnificent sea-views. A compulsory stop even today for international tourism.
PONTINE ISLANDS
Geographically they belong to Lazio, but have a social "campana" origin. Their inhabitants derive from the settlers of the coast and the country of Campania, sent by the Borboni in 1730 to the islands. Their small villages have a beautiful "partenopeo" character with white and rose houses, in their dialect, in their way of living, in their sailor like customs. The islands have an eruptive origin and their landscapes are wild and characteristic, with a wonderfull very clear and blue sea. Above all, Ponza and Palmarola islands, with their moon-like shape and their bristling rocks, testify the huge explosions and terrifying eruptions from which they originated.
Ponza
The arrival in Ponza is really charming: you can admire the semicircle of pink houses on the harbour, the roman "piscine", ancient basins where the Romans bred fishes, and the small cemetery on the mountain!
Advancing in lanes and narrow roads of the island you can find the sudden flowering of series of plants, above all yellow of the brooms. The sea is the real jewel of Ponza: its crumbly rocks of tuff and lava, under the blows of the wind and of the waves, have strange shapes in boundless series of capes, promontories, beaches, bays, caves, and one finest than the others. The sea depths are very various and charming: red seaweeds, "poseidonia" that waves in the current like the hair of a swimming "Medusa". It is very amusing to snorkel in a few metres of water: you can see blue neon "castagnole", very coloured "donzelle", trusting king fishes and many small fishes with lovely colours.
Zannone
Zannone Island offers a various set of samples of geological formations that witness a very old earthly history.
But the real treasure of the island is its vegetation: here it is the same the first farmers found many thousands years ago. Here you can breathe the perfume of rosemary, lavender, thyme, lentisco, heather. On Zannone Island you can find only the keeper's house and a lighthouse; there are also the ruins of a "benedettino" convent going back the VI century a.C.
Ventotene
The name Ventotene derives from the Greek name "Mandataria" that means "donor of everything".
It was the place where the Roman Emperors exiled renowned roman matrons: like Giulia, Augusto' daughter, Agrippina, Tiberio's step-daughter. Ventotene is an important archaeological place, with its roman harbour dug into the tuff, the ancient fish basins and the ruins of "Villa Giulia", imperial palace on "Punta Eolo". Very pretty is the small village, in which in the winter only 500 people live: it was built by the Borboni during the VIII century and their houses have the pink and white colours of the houses built on the islands of the Neapolitan Gulf.
Like the sea of Ponza, the waters of Ventotene are very clear and diving and snorkelling are very amusing here.
Santo Stefano
It is placed far 1600 meters from Ventotene harbour and is a low small island, 80 meters high on the sea level. Here Ferdinando IV, the king of the "due Sicilie", ordered that Francesco Carpi, (an architect who then was shoot-up here and here died), and Antonio Winspeare, (a major of his army), should built a life imprisonment. The building, built round a circular courtyard, imitates the "gironi" of Dante's hell. The life imprisonment building has being deserted since 1965. On the island you can admire very wild vegetation, where once the prisoners farmed their small fields.
Palmarola
Palmarola is placed six miles far from Ponza. Suddenly, arriving from Ponza at Palmarola, you can see a wonderful bay, "Cala Brigantina"; on the right a smooth and low rock is dark in front of a very high white rock that is reflected in a jade sea; on the left the "Faraglioni di Mezzogiorno". On the North rock, you can see the ancient caves dug in the tuff, prehistoric shelters, and then shelters of Ponza inhabitants, who came here to farm very small fields.
AEOLIAN ISLANDS (trip advise for two weeks)
Bays, coves, active volcanoes, isolated reefs; the Aeolian Islands have everything to make of a holiday an unforgettable event. To the north-east of Sicily there lies a corner of paradise where the mystery of nature is reflected seven times in the purest of waters. You feel as though you were admiring something belonging to the very beginning of creation: the seven islands of the Aeolian archipelago rise out of the sea like seven huge chunks of volcanic land anchored somewhere in the depths of the sea. The islands have been praised and immortalised by writers and artists and by great travellers of the past.
Lipari
Lipari is the largest and most heavily populated island of the archipelago. The town is spread out under the imposing Castle rock, the ancient Greek acropolis and along the bays of Marina Corta and Marina Lunga, to the north and south.
Salina
The volcanic island of Salina derives its name from a small coastal lake of about two hectares and only a few meters in depth, which was originally constructed by the Romans to harvest sea salt.
Phrasing and geography aside, a visit to Salina will confirm previous travellers' assents: A gorgeous island filled with culinary luxuries like aromatic, highly alcoholic red and white wines and plump, delicious capers, a wide variety of flora and fauna and a people, warm and welcoming, like no other.
Panarea
Panarea (3.4 sq. km.) is one of the most scenic islands in the archipelago and the oldest geologically. The Greeks supposedly called it "Euonimo" because it appears on the left when departing from the port of Lipari. Though irregular and indefinable in form, rugged and uneven, it boasts stupendous beaches if enchanting beauty enhanced by a limpid blue sea. There are gaseous fumaroles and hot springs in various localities. One of these hot springs (50 deg. C.) is popular with the inhabitants for its curative effects.
Stromboli
“A black giant" stands out against the intense blue sea. For thousands of years the volcanic cone has been like a lighthouse for mariners. For those who approach the island, as soon as darkness begins, the flame of the volcano becomes visible at 15/20 minutes intervals.
Vulcano
Vulcano, the ancient Hierà (sacred), Thermessa or Terasia; is a most interesting island due to its volcanic and post-volcanic phenomena. The peculiar characteristic of Vulcano is its plateau, the vastest of the Aeolian Islands, formed by lava, banks of tuff and quaternary deposits and furrowed by deep valleys. It is surrounded by undulating and bare hills, which fall towards the sea. On the high slopes of the island the panorama is picturesque and wild: dykes alternate with extensive areas of tuff and sand. The circular tour of Vulcano is a succession of fantastic visions famous for their variety and beauty of scenery.
Filicudi and Alicudi
Filicudi is known as such, due to the abundance of ferns in ancient times. It has an oval shape running down the peninsula made up of Capo Graziano, also formed from three extinct volcanoes. Two small villages house the few people living here during the year, Port Plain and Pecorini a Mare. Here people live on fishing, small pasture and tourism. It is suited to those who love nature and peace and quiet. The excursions, only by boat, to the Grotta del Bue Marino (Cave of the Sea Cow) and to the Scoglio della Canna are a must. Alicudi is the island more westerly and further out of the Aeolian Archipelago, similar to Filicudi in nature and conformation. Only recently do crafts berth at Port Palomba, where the small village rises and whose activity evolves around small fishing.
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