Salerno to Naples

June 12, 2023

Sunny Salerno

As I woke up this morning, a feeling of satisfaction washed over me. This will be the last day of travel for this tour and although the cycling started in Sorrento at the far end of the ‘Amalfi peninsula’, it feels like we have closed the loop here in Salerno. This has been an extraordinary trip and it feels like it’s time for a victory lap on the streets of beautiful Salerno.

We had already wandered the old city and seen the Salerno Duomo, so today we planned to focus on seeing Salerno from the seashore. To start things off, we headed to our favourite coffee bar for breakfast, Dolcè e Caffè.

Sometimes one way streets go the right direction, the way I want to go, that is! 😇

Just look at those neatly parked cars and clean sidewalk!

Dolcè e Caffè is actually a bakery that has a small wine cellar to one side for drinking coffee and sampling the baked goods while dreaming up which wine you’d like to have with dinner that evening.

There was wide selection of fresh-from-the-oven goodies in the display case at this tiny bakery. We both saw it as a chance to veer away from the standard croissant for breakfast, so I went for the pasticcioto and David ordered a chocolate brioche. I haven’t mentioned the pasticcioto before now, so it’s high time I say something about this yummy breakfast tart. Pasticciotto is a specialty of Apulia (Puglia) that originated in Lecce and is now found throughout southern Italy. It’s made with a light crumbly shortcrust and filled with a lemon cream custard and it’s sinfully delicious. Good thing they are small. This one will be re-created when I get home, for sure.

Chocolate brioche and pasticchioto to go with our due cappuccini.

Trieste Lungomare

Salerno has a long stretch of beautifully maintained promenade known as the Trieste Lungomare which stretches about a kilometer from the Porto Turistico in the south to the Piazza della Liberta in the north. It is a combination of walkway/cycle path and a linear park. You can stroll, cycle, run or scoot on your scooter along the main promenade or if you want a little shade you can step back and have a seat on a bench or stroll under the palm trees.

We rode along the promenade slowly so we could to soak up the beauty and take photos. The view of the Amalfi coast was breathtaking. We scanned the hills to find the road we had cycled on. I didn't realize it at the time, but now see that there’s a large elevated highway up on the hillside.

The water here is crystal clear and cold. The public beach was a draw for a few sunbathers and waders on this sunny morning.

Piazza della Libertà

At the north end of the promenade lies Salerno’s newest addition, the Piazza della Libertà, the largest piazza on the sea in all of Italy. It was 15 years in the making and was inaugurated in 2021, a huge project to make over an abandoned and neglected area that served for supporting port activities. The new piazza is 28,000 square meters and there is parking space for 600 vehicles on the lower level.

The crescent shaped building, appropriately named the Crescent, is yet to house many businesses. Salerno’s centro storico lies just behind and it’s hoped this new development will be a linkage between it and the seashore. Salerno has a lot to offer its visitors so it’s a wonderful enhancement for the city. Now, they just need to start programming it and attracting events. Can you imagine a taking in a music concert here?

We were the only people here on this morning, so we disobeyed the no cycling signs and rode across the square, stopping to watch a cruise ship dock.

Next to the cruise ship is the Salerno Maritime Terminal, which opened in 2016. Its design was inspired by the shape of an oyster shell. The building is dwarfed by the cruise ship, but when seen alone, it is quite distinctive.

I was curious to explore the area that we had ridden through a month earlier when we hesitantly rode against the traffic as we descended from Vietri sul Mare into Salerno. Oh, were we ever green! At the time, we'd been huddled under a highway overpass trying to sort out how else we could get in to Salerno as this was the only apparent roadway. That’s when a big delivery truck went barelling past us down the hill, against the traffic. I laughed nervously and said, “I’m game, are you?”. And so it went.

That road led us past a city park which I took little notice of at the time. Today, we saw the botanical garden of the Villa Communale in a much better light. It’s a peaceful greenspace, originally built in 1874, with paths, benches, a famous fountain and several large sculptures.

From here, we could see the Arechi Castle that overlooks Salerno, the Bay of Salerno and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The castle would make a great destination for a morning hike. There is a path, called the Sentiero del Principe or Prince’s Path, that will lead you there.

Fornelle District

The Fornelle District sits just behind the new piazza. It was named for the pottery kilns from the Middle Ages that were discovered here and it was once was the heart of Salerno.

We were drawn to do some exploring when we spotted a green and yellow tiled dome among the buildings. It belonged to a small blue and white church, the Church of the Santissima Annunziata. The intriguing pink Sanfelice Belltower stood next to the church.

As we were taking in the church and its tower a jogger came up the street and without breaking his stride, disappeared into the church for the briefest moment then exited and carried on jogging past us. It reminded us how Italian people take their morning coffees in three sips or less. They often leave the car running and double parked while they duck into the bar for this daily ritual.

Church of the Santissima Annunziata with its bronze relief door.

One of the raised panels on the church door.

Once a Gardener, Always a Gardener

As I was looking around, I spotted a small sign on the side of a building with an arrow pointing in the direction of the Minerva’s Garden. I had read about the Giardino della Minerva, a therapeutic botanic garden that was built in the early 1400’s for the purpose of learning about the medicinal uses of various plants. I have a green thumb and love gardening dearly, so I went off to find the garden. As it turned out it was temporarily closed, but the story is still worth mentioning.

This special garden belonged to Matteo Silvatico, a physician of the Salernitan School of Medicine. Through his plant cultivation, research and classification system, he distinguished himself in the 14th century as an expert in medical plants and herbs. He used the garden for teaching students of the Scuola Medica Salernitana, the oldest medical school in the world about medicinal properties of herbs and plants, and more specifically, which parts of the plants contained the medicinal elements. The Minerva’s Garden today keeps more than 300 species of officinal herbs. It’s definitely worth a visit for the view alone if you ever make it to Salerno.

I was disappointed the garden was closed. I hoped that it was because they were busy preparing it for this year’s visitors. Not all was lost though, because while looking for the garden, I ended up exploring a unique area. The walls of the buildings and alleyways throughout the Rione Fornelle district have been used as murals for art and poetry as part of a revitalization plan that began in 2014. Had I known what I was looking at, I would have taken more photos.

Train Time

We had arranged an early check-in at the Naples B&B, so we meandered our way back to the train station to catch one of the frequent trains to Naples. There were no elevators so we humped the bikes down and up the stairs to reach the platform one last time.

Trains have been excellent for travelling with bikes.

We’re Back!

The train trip was quick, under 45 minutes, which was just enough time to work out how we would make our way from the Napoli Centrale station to the B&B on two wheels. We remembered that the roadway along the waterfront had been paved for the Giro d’Italia so our plan was to head that direction and then start riding north.

As we exited the station, we paused for a photo and my senses said ‘keep moving, Anne’. It's not the sort of place to linger any longer than necessary. Cycling was 100% out of the question, so we walked our bikes the six blocks, holding our noses past the piles of street garbage, being careful and watching every step. The road and sidewalks are irregular enough, but throw in all the people, cars, motos, dogs, and garbage and it’s a full-on sensory experience.

Once we made it to the Via Marina, we hopped on to the bikes and cruised along towards our neighbourhood. We hung a right when instinct told us to turn and before we knew it we were patting ourselves on our backs and saying ‘ciao’ to the guardian.

Once we checked in (the B&B is on the first floor) David went into action right away packing the bikes in their suitcases. It was a sweaty two hour affair. I plied him with water and tried to stay out of the way. With this job done, it would free us up so we could take an easy day tomorrow. We rested a bit, then cleaned up and headed out for a caprese salad and Napoli pizza for dinner.

We are going to miss this mozzarella di bufala when we get home.

Try as I might, I still couldn’t find space to eat the puffy crusts.

Today's ride: 12 km (7 miles)
Total: 1,137 km (706 miles)

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