Coast to coast

Forio, Barano, Lacco Ameno, Casamicciola Terme, Serrara Fontana.

Vines on green tuff. Forio, on the western coast of the island, is the only one to have maintained its sixteenth-century appearance, complete with narrow alleys, watchtowers and churches. The most important of these churches is the one known simply as the "Soccorso" (aid), dedicated to Santa Maria della Neve. Surrounded on three sides by the sea, it is the symbol of the town (along with the Torrione) as well as being one of the most extraordinary pieces of architecture on <%=ischia%>. The facade is white, and the entrance steps are decorated with eighteenth-century majolica tiles representing saints and scenes from the Passion of Christ. Two of the island's most celebrated beaches, Cava dell'Isola and Citara, fall within the Forio municipality and the latter also hosts a spa complex where one can bathe all year round. Another characteristic feature of the Forio area are the parracine, low walls in green tuff used to terrace the vines. The western slopes of Mount Epomeo are the most suited to vine-growing and over 60% of <%=ischia%>'s wine production comes from here. Since the 1950s, Florio, more than any other place on the island, has become a favourite haunt of an elite tourism that has included great names of showbiz and culture such as Pierpaolo Pasolini, Eduardo De Filippo, Richard Burton and Liz Taylor, Alberto Moravia and Elsa Morante, Renato Guttuso, Pablo Neruda, W.H. Auden, Aristotele Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy. Disintegrating with style. It is said that the municipality of Barano, south-west of the chief town and south-east of Epomeo, presents every possible form of soil erosion to be found in Italy, a sort of "anthology" due to the complex volcanic nature of the land. There are clean-cut quarries like the ones in Campania, deep ravines like those in Puglia, clay outcrops that crack open the earth like the "cicciò" in Piedmont, "calanchi" similar to those in the Emilian Apennines where the land crumbles easily, as well as more stable outcrops, like the "crete" near Siena. Yet this town, despite its weird landscape and slightly Mephistophelian aspect due to the presence of fumaroles and hot springs, has always been famous for healthy living. It is located in the middle of a vast, very fertile agricultural area, and has some interesting sights such as the "cava Scura" on the Maronti beach, one of the most famous of the entire island, the Sant'Angelo quarries and the quarry of Ponte di Buonopane. The ancient heart of Magna Graecia. Lacco Ameno, on the northern coast, is the place where <%=ischia%>'s major archaeological excavations have been carried out, since it was here that the Greeks from Euboea originally settled in the mid-8th century BC and founded the town of Pithekusae, probably the oldest Greek settlement in Southern Italy. They left thousands of objects which have been discovered in the necropolis of San Montano and many pottery shards found in the acropolis of Mount Vico, more or less where the movie director Luchino Visconti bought an ancient watchtower in the 1950s and turned it into his holiday home. For the most part, the archaeological finds discovered in the Lacco Ameno area are now displayed in the museums of Santa Restituta and Pithecusae. The Santa Restituta museum is housed in a church of the same name. When restoration work on the church began in the 1950s, an early Christian church was revealed under the floor, and traces of ancient Pithekusae came to light under the crypt, including a vase manufactory, probably the very same one that was famous throughout the Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. Museum exhibits include many pieces of pottery, bronze votive statuettes, remains of sculptures from temples and objects from everyday life. The most striking find of all is a large bowl decorated with scenes showing a ship being wrecked in a storm, with sailors trying to save themselves as they fight against sea monsters and voracious fish. The Pithecusae Civic Museum of Archaeology presents a collection of over 3,000 finds, including the famous "Nestor's cup" from Rhodes. Hot thermal springs. The fact that <%=ischia%> is the result of unceasing volcanic activity is evident throughout the island, and especially in Casamicciola, located in the middle of the northern coast (between the municipalities of Ischio Porto and Lacco Ameno) and the first place to develop thermal tourism, thanks to the two groups of springs called Gurgitello and Rita that flow from the slopes of Mount Epomeo. The first watering place of modern times was established here in 1604 and between the 18th and 19th centuries it was the most famous spa in the whole of Southern Italy. However, in 1883 the town was completely destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt along the seashore. In 1956, the town was renamed Casamicciola Terme to confirm its tourist status and today the area numbers more than a dozen spas. Other features of Casamicciola are the geophysical observatory at an altitude of 123 metres on the Sentinella hill. Moreover, from Casamicciola, one can climb Mount Epomeo by taking the road that leads to the ideal starting point for excursions to the top of the mountain, the highest on the island, at an altitude of 789 metres on the highest crest of the large crater of an ancient volcano. From the sea to the mountain. The summit of Mount Epomeo, where the church and hermitage of San Nicola stand, carved out of the green tuff, falls within the municipality of Serrara Fontana. Both Serrara and Fontana are located at an altitude of 400 metres in the midst of vast terraces mostly planted with olive groves and citrus fruit. The local gem is the little fishing village of Sant'Angelo, a cluster of coloured houses similar to those on Procida. Sant'Angelo, once one of the most isolated places in <%=ischia%> (you can only reach it on foot or by sea), is now a fashionable tourist resort with lively night life and lots of bars and restaurants. The village is linked by a hundred-metre strip of land to the lava rock of Sant'Angelo, where the remains of an ancient watchtower stand (it was destroyed by the British navy in the early 19th century). The island's longest beach, called Maronti, is overlooked by the fascinating Cava Scura spa, and is within easy walking distance of Sant'Angelo.