THE EAGLE’S WALK

A hike along the Sentiero degli Dei or the Path of the Gods offers a view of the Amalfi oast far from the colourful villages and elegant restaurants for which it is best known.

I love the Amalfi Coast. The scenery is legendary, the people are friendly, the beaches are gorgeous, the water is warm, the food is fantastic and the list goes on. I try to come here at least once a year, usually just for a short L & L break. By that I mean Lazing and Luxuriating. A bit of beach, a spa treatment or two, a glass of Avellino and a quiet dinner in an unnamed cobbled piazza. I have never been disappointed. So this year I decided to spend an entire week and you know what? It was a mistake - or almost a mistake.

About three days into the trip I realised that that was it. I’d had my fill of poolside lounge chairs and strolling down narrow streets with my hands crossed behind my back, stopping now and then to gaze blankly at a shop window. I needed some action. A bit of exercise wouldn’t do me any harm either. A hike was in order. Fortunately, along with boutiques and cafés, Amalfi is also full of great hiking trails. I decided to start at the top with the Sentiero degli Dei or the Path of the Gods, an eight-kilometre hiking path connecting the towns of Bomerano and Positano.

First a bit of history. Long before the famous Nastro Azzurro coastal road was built, the towns and villages along the Amalfi coast were only accessible from the sea or by way of mule paths built along the upper reaches of the mountain. Sentiero degli Dei was one of these. Used for centuries, the trail owes its name to temples dedicated to Minerva, Mitra and Ceres, which stood along the path in Roman times.

Today the path is still used by farmers coming to tend to the vineyards clinging to the sides of the rock walls or by shepherds tending to flocks of sheep that are probably doing the same. But now mostly it is day hikers, like me, coming to enjoy the incredible sea views that have made the Path of the Gods the most celebrated in an area riddled with footpaths. It helps too that you don’t need to be in great condition to make the hike. Over its eight-kilometre length, which should take the average hiker about 4.5 hours, the path has a total rise of just 460 feet. In other words it is fairly flat considering the terrain.

I join the path at the town of Bomerano which I reach by local bus. It’s a nerve-racking ride as the bus winds its way up the mountainside, around hairpin turns, sometimes seemingly hanging right off the edge of the cliff. Path of the Gods indeed. The entire ride is a religious experience, I find myself praying most of the way and I’m sure a couple of times I’m about to meet my maker.

Finally we pull into the town of Bomerano, still in one piece, and I make my way to the main square to the start of the route. A small red and white sign next to the church marks the beginning. Following the road toward the town of Furore, no sooner have I left the asphalt that I sight the rocky cliffs of the Grotta del Biscotto or the Cave of the Biscuit. Inside are the ruins of some ancient dwellings built into the cave walls.

Continuing along, I see I am to be accompanied by gorgeous sea views nearly every step of the way. The only sound I hear is the wind, the birds, my own embarrassingly heavy breathing (note to self: renew gym membership) and the occasional clop of a pack mule. Further down the path, just past the ruins of an ancient farmhouse I come across a marker placed by the members of the Naples charter of the Club of Italian Alpinist in honour of Giustino Fortunato, the Italian writer, historian and politician who named the route.

It has taken me just a few kilometres of hiking to begin to question Giustino’s logic in naming the path. It seems to me that instead of the Gods, the whole walk is an extraordinary monument to the ingenuity of man. The amount of work and struggle that must have gone into cutting this path, sometimes right into the sides of sheer rock cliffs, is unfathomable.

Then again so are the views. Literally every step of the way has something new and mostly breathtaking to offer. The most stunning moment for me comes just after leaving Giustino’s marker where I first notice that the view is not limited to the Amalfi coast and the sea below but I can see over the top to the Sorrentine coast and even all the way out to the Isle of Capri. Okay, maybe God should be given some credit after all.

It is the home stretch, running from Nocelle to Positano, which God has saved for his best work on the path. Here the trail snakes through quiet pinewoods where I find more caves cut into the stone walls and although it doesn’t seem possible the views of the coast along this bit are even more stunning than what I have experienced up to this point. Look either way and I see rugged cliffs fading into the distance on both sides and the pretty-as-a-postcard town of Positano spilling down the side of the mountain below.

At Montepertuso I stop to catch my breath, once again, and enjoy the views from on high before I begin my final descent into the town of Positano via an ancient stone stairway. One thousand seven hundred or so steps later my journey comes to an end. It seems as soon as I reach the streets of town I fold my arms behind my back and begin gazing into the first shop window I see. The Path of the Gods has lived up to its name and I’m now ready to get back to my original plan of lazing and luxuriating.

Note: Those who suffer a fear of heights should know that althought the path is very well maintained and mostly wide and flat, there are sections that are very narrow and some that are little more than ledges carved into the rocky cliffs. The village of Praiano organizes concerts on the Path of Gods every spring and autumn.

WHERE TO STAY:
CASA ANGELINA
The Walk of the Gods can also be reached from the town of Praiano, which lies mid-way between Bomerano and Positano. This is also home to our favourite Amalfi hotel, Casa Angelina. Perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean and down the coast to Positano, the hotel provides stunning sea views from nearly every room and in some ways feels like a continuation of the route. That is until you experience the comfort of its modern designed guest rooms, the luxury of its state-of-the-art spa or the chic ambiance and delightful Mediterranean cuisine of its award winning restaurant Un Piano Nel Cielo. franklynhotels.com