Pompeii, Ischia Surroundings

Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Pompeii, Ischia Surroundings

Researchers believe that the town was founded in the seventh or sixth century BC by the Osci or Oscans. It came under the domination of Rome in the 4th century BC, and was conquered and became a Roman colony in 80 BC after it joined an unsuccessful rebellion against the Roman Republic. By the time of its destruction, 160 years later, its population was estimated at 11,000 people, and the city had a complex water system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium, and a port.

Pompeii, Ischia Surroundings

The eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash. Evidence for the destruction originally came from a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger, who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. The site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and moisture. These artifacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed one to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died.

Pompeii, Ischia Surroundings

Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years. Today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year.

Church of S. Restituta, Lacco Ameno Ischia

La Chiesa di Santa Restituta is located in the town of Lacco Ameno 

Where today rises the Church of S. Restututa, in the past raised the large roman cistern. Just here the first Paleochristian basilica was erected between the IV and V century A.D.

When the Carmelite brothers arrived in Lacco Ameno, took possession of the church, but at the end of the XVI century they tore down the old church and brought about changes, so the church appears today.

 Church of S. Restituta, Lacco Ameno Ischia

The actual façade in Neoclassic style was built in 1910. Entering the church, on the first chapel to the right, on a table of the 1500 one sees the image of Madonna del Carmine, in front of another statue of the Immacolata. In the background we find three canvases by Filippo Baldi.

Above and all around the church there are paintings with scenes of the martyr of S. Restituta by Mastroianni in 1883-1885.

Address: Piazza S. Restituta

Municipality: 80076 - Lacco Ameno

Holy Masses hours: dom 11:00 - 18:00/19:00

Bus lines: 1 - CD - CS

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. 

Before or after your stay in Ischia, we higly recommend you to visit this fabulous city. 

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC. A larger colony – initially known as Parthenope,  – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. The city was refounded as Neápolis in the sixth century BC and became a lynchpin of Magna Graecia, playing a key role in the merging of Greek culture into Roman society and eventually becoming a cultural centre of the Roman Republic. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, serving as the capital city of the Kingdom of Naples between 1282 and 1816. Thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. During the Neapolitan War of 1815, Naples strongly promoted Italian unification.

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Naples' historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) and enclosing 27 centuries of history, and is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras.  

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Popular characters and historical figures who have come to symbolise the city include Januarius (Gennaro), the patron saint of Naples, the comic figure Pulcinella, and the Sirens from the Greek epic poem the Odyssey. According to CNN, the metro stop "Toledo" is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award '2013 as "Public building of the year". Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide. 

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Santa Maria al Monte

The church, Santa Maria al Monte, is located over 400 meters above sea level, is located in a natural setting of great charm and beauty, between forests, hiking trails, terraces and stone houses, ancient shelters for shepherds and farmers. 

This very beautiful church is located high up on the slopes of Mount Epomeo in Forio.

The Santa Maria al Monte Church is partially excavated in the tufa rock, it can be considered a typical example of mountain architecture. The building structure is very simple. The large courtyard in front of the stone benches, and presents an enormous cistern dug in the tuff for collecting rainwater. The facade is very simple, is topped by a rectangular structure with two bells and a spherical dome. The interior has a large central nave ending in the apse, flanked on the right side by a narrow aisle. In addition to the altarpiece depicting the Madonna with the anonymous saints Anthony Abbot and Paul the Hermit, the church has a wooden altar frontal with painted floral motifs, from the early seventeenth century, and residues of frescoes of the seventeenth century …

Address: Via Bocca

City hall: 80075 - Forio

Time of building: XVI - XVII sec.

Hour of Holy Masses: ---

Priest: Don Pasquale Sferratore

Bus lines: 1 - 14 - 2 - 9 - CD - CS

Procida Island

Procida is one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples. The island is between Cape Miseno and the island of Ischia. With its tiny satellite island of Vivara, it is a comune of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the region of Campania. It is very densely populated with its about ten thousand people on a mere 4 km2 (hence more than 2000 people per km2).

Procida Island

Procida is small enough that you could walk most of the distances on the island. However, its narrow roads are busy with traffic and in places pedestrians have to flatten themselves against high walls as cars and buses pass. It's preferable to get around using the little island buses, which run frequently. These start on the harbour side of the church by the main port, with an additional bus stop stop close to the ferry jetty. You can buy tickets from the driver, though it's cheaper to buy them in advance in a bar or tabacchi - if you're staying on the island, it's worth buying a batch of tickets to save money on travel.

Procida Island

If you are visiting Procida for a day trip, walk up to the Terra Murata and visit the abbey if it's open. Admire the views over the Bay of Naples and of the Procida shoreline. Then head downhill to Corricella for a leisurely open-air lunch by the harbour. In the afternoon, if you have time, catch a bus to Chiaiolella where you can splash about on the beach before returning by bus to the port.

Procida Island

Procida has several beaches, of varying quality. The nearest beach to the port is just a few minutes' walk to the right as you disembark the ferry. There is another small beach on the far side of the big yachting marina, with a flight of steps climbing up towards the old part of town. Although fairly popular, neither of these beaches is terribly appealing. There is a better beach halfway along the island's length, on the eastern shore past Corricella. 

Procida Island

This beach, called Chiaia, is reached on foot, down a long flight of steps from Corso Vittorio Emanuele. On the north-western shore of the island is Cala del Pozzo Vecchio, a scenic round bay beneath cliffs, where part of Il Postino was filmed. The drawback here is that the cliffs above the narrow beach mean the sand is in shade for part of the day. Pozzo Vecchio is in an unusual setting, just beneath the island's cemetery (catch bus C1 then walk down a narrow lane on the right).