Boat Tours in Naples Bay the Amalfi Coast and Cilento

Visit magnificent Naples Bay, Capri, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast and Cilento in a traditional local boat, hugging the coastline in a series of one day tours, stopping along the way to savor the history, culture and traditions in quaint villages and famous resorts.

The Phlegraean Fields

There is a place where the fields  “burn”, and vapors and mud come out of the land whose level is constantly rising and lowering; where volcanoes like 133 meter high Monte Nuovo have emerged overnight. Hence, the name Campi Flegrei coined by the Greeks who first saw it 2800 years ago, assuming that Titans where imprisoned underground and their breathing caused the bradisism phenomenon of the earth’s crust.

Your voyage begins in Pozzuoli where you can see the remains of the Macellum and the underground Roman city  Rione Terra by simply entering a 17th Century palazzo.  Bradisism is also responsible for the sinking of the Roman Imperial city of Baia.

Just across the bay of Pozzuoli are Baia Castle and Miseno, home port of Rome’s navy; it is from here that Plini the Elder sailed in a vain attempt to save Pompeii. Your tour will end where it all began: Cuma as Southern Italy and Magna Grecia acted as catalysts to bring Greek culture to Rome. Western civilization began right here with the Cuman Sibilla and its myths.

 Sorrento Capri and Positano

Your boat leaves the port of Sorrento and reaches across to circumnavigate and visit the nearby island of Capri. Then it hugs the Amalfi Coast side of the Sorrento peninsula, and an opportunity to swim in crystal clear waters, on its way to the resort of Positano. This very relaxing day can only end with dinner based on local food and wine specialties  at a restaurant on the beach.

Cilento

All the ingredients that visitors to Italy look for can be found here: pristine beaches, a national park under Unesco’s protection, coastal and inland panoramas and a superb culinary tradition. Coastal, hilly, and mountainous landscapes follow each other, showing vestiges of man`s ancient presence; Greek colonizers landed in the 7th century BC and founded Poseidonia (the Roman Paestum). Of major interest:

Paestum is surrounded by well kept 5 Km long Roman walls and includes three famous and imposing VI and V century BC Doric temples, the Archeological Museum and The Diver fresco.

Velia was founded circa 540 BC. Archeological excavations have gradually unveiled the remains of this town, the amphitheater and the Porta Rosa (Pink Door).

Cilento Coast if you can spare an extra day, your boat can take you further down the Cilento coast with stops along the way at quaint fishing villages in the company of a breathtaking coastline, all the way down to Palinuro, named after Ulysses’ helmsman on the voyage back to Ithaca.

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Castles and Coastal Towers in Southern Italy

The History of Coastal Towers goes hand in hand the political and military evolution of the Kingdom of Naples. Fortifications were built in Southern Italy over and eight hundred year period from the 9^th to the 17^th centuries. The original towers were cylindrical in shape, tall and with small windows. Their main function was to sound the alarm when pirate ships were sighted through the lightning of fires, allowing the local population to find shelter into the hills and grottoes inland from the coast.

Increased Raids during the 16^th Century led to Development of More Complex Coastal Defenses

Naples Viceroy Don Pedro of Toledo ordered the construction of massive, square-shaped towers with thicker external walls. The transition from circular-shaped towers to square-shaped ones was spurred by the introduction of artillery requiring fortifications whose functions now included sighting, signaling, shelter as well as the use of offensive weapons that could hit a ship approaching the coast.

Communications were carried out through a series of visual signals - smoke in the daytime, fires by night as well as acoustic signals such as bells, or shots from a cannon or arquebus, a precursor of the rifle. When a pirate ship was sighted from one tower, one of these signals would be used to warn the people of the area to prepare to fight or flee. The signal would be passed from tower to tower, up and down the coast, passing the word quickly and effectively. The ground level floor had no windows and was set directly above a large cistern to guarantee a constant water supply. This space was used to store food and munitions and also contained a millstone for grinding wheat, making the tower self-sufficient.

Saracen Towers can be viewed along the Southern Italian coastline from Gaeta to the Sorrento peninsula, the Amalfi and Cilento coasts. There are over 350 towers, including 30 along the coastal strip from Vietri sul Mare to Positano. Some have been restored and incorporated into modern buildings in small harbors such as San Marco, Pisciotta and Marina di Camerota. Further south, around Cape Infreschi just before reaching Scario, there are cliffs along the coast unreachable by road; here the original coastal towers stand just a few hundred yards apart.

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The Term Saracen has shifted over time. Ptolemy's Geography from the second century mentions Sarakene as a region in the northern Sinai Peninsula and refers to a people called the Sarakenoi. For Italians during the middle ages it meant Muslim invader, from the Arabs who rode the initial wave of Islamic expansion into Spain and Sicily in the 8^th and 9^th centuries to the Ottoman Turks who took Constantinople in the 15^th century.

Coastal Watchtowers were also as a point of reference for friendly ships. The towers were generally manned by a military team of four guards and a horseman, who often remained outside the tower ready to ride into town to carry a warning as soon as possible.

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