The hills

Museo Diffuso

THE HILLS

Description of the route

Traces of faith in the Lubrense hills: a loop circuit that starts from the main square of the village of Sant’Agata sui Due Golfi

Here stands the eighteenth-century Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, famous above all for the precious altar dating back to the Florentine school of the sixteenth century.

Once visited the church, continue along Corso Sant’Agata towards Il Deserto, a small hill that reaches 457 meters and on which stands the Monastery of San Paolo, built by the Barefoot Carmelites in 1679. From the pine forest that faces the entrance to the Hermitage the view opens on the Sorrento Plain, the Gulf of Naples and Mount Vesuvius.

After visiting and returning to the foot of the hill, the walk continues along Via del Deserto. After about 500 meters, with a small deviation to the left, you can reach the chapel of Santa Maria a Tentarano through ancient steps. The small votive niche dates back to 1400 and the fresco of the Madonna nursing the Child is beautiful. The origin of the name Tentarano is unknown, but the cult is still alive in the soul of the locals.

Back on Via Deserto, the path continues to the left following Via Pignatelli, until you reach the Via Nastro Verde road, following which, keeping to the left for about 200 meters, you reach the intersection with Via San Giuseppe.

Leaving the entrance gate of a private villa on the left, Via San Giuseppe narrows leading you to the Prasiano area where, overlooking the island of Capri, is the ancient chapel dedicated to San Giuseppe, built in 1600 by the Sersale family.

We continue our journey following Via San Giuseppe which descends, among olive groves and lemon groves, towards Via Bagnulo, the road that leads to the village of San Francesco. The church with the imposing tuff portal and the fine majolica floor is very beautiful. The church and the adjoining convent, entrusted to the Frati Minimi of San Francesco di Paola, were built in the 16th century at the behest of the Liparulo family, whose coat of arms is still visible today on the entrance door of the church.

From San Francesco the walk continues following the narrow road that starts on the left of the convent. The path climbs, offering a beautiful view of the islands of Ischia and Capri, until you reach the village of Acquara, where you can visit the church dedicated to San Vito built in 1674.

The main road leads to the hamlet of Pastena, in whose square the sixteenth-century church of Saints Peter and Paul stands. Via Canale begins on the left of the church, a narrow path that runs alongside a small river on which stands the graceful chapel dedicated to San Sebastiano. The chapel already existed in the fifteenth century and was erected on the occasion of a serious plague epidemic. It is frescoed with images of the Blessed Virgin and Saints Bartolomeo, Gennaro, Sebastiano and Sossio.

Via Canale continues, passing through the old wash houses, towards the center of Sant’Agata sui Due Golfi, where the loop circuit ends.

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