Sorrento Coast has a unique landscape in the world, where high and low hills alternate with deep valleys and majestic mountains where the work of man has been grandiose, who has arranged the most inaccessible areas, transforming them into the famous terraces, degrading steps of earth towards the sea, where he has grown oranges, lemons, olive trees, and vines.
They are the gardens of delight from which in spring an intoxicating scent of orange blossom exhales. The mild and dry climate throughout most of the year makes the Sorrento Coast the ideal destination for every season.
Arriving by land, the towns of Vico Equense and Meta will welcome you, whose ancient farmhouses and sunny beaches are waiting to be discovered; Piano di Sorrento, a lively town that skilfully blends its maritime identity with the rural one and the active commercial center of the peninsula; its low hill is crossed by narrow streets, flanked by high walls that enclose ancient citrus groves.
And still, Sant’Agnello, whose overlooking the sea, overlooking a tuffaceous ridge, has enchanted the royal house of the Bourbons and the princes of all Europe, who built fabulous villas here. And, overlooking the sea and surrounded by its hills, appears Sorrento, an international town, with its ancient center, its marinas, its citrus gardens; and finally, we reach Massa Lubrense, the extreme edge of the Peninsula, lying in front of Capri, a natural oasis with countless pedestrian paths between ancient farmhouses, archaeological areas, Mediterranean scrub, and indescribable views, over the sea and enchanting beaches.
The historic center of Sorrento still shows the orthogonal layout of the streets of Roman origin with thistles and decumans, while towards the mountain it is surrounded by the sixteenth-century walls. There is the Cathedral, rebuilt in the fifteenth century, with a neo-Gothic façade, and the Church of San Francesco d’Assisi, with a remarkable fourteenth-century cloister, with an Arabian portico with arches intertwined on octagonal pillars. The Correale di Terranova museum exhibits collections of Greek and Roman finds and Capodimonte porcelain, with a section dedicated to 17th-19th century painting; the park also offers a magnificent view of the gulf. At the Punta del Capo, 3 km west, there are Roman remains believed to be of the villa of Pollio Felice (1st century AD). Another maritime villa is the “Villa of Agrippa Postumo”, literally located under today’s Hotel Bellevue Syrene. The villa was built by the unfortunate nephew of Augustus.
