Castellammare → Amalfi via Sentiero dei Cavalieri and Valle delle Ferriere

Introduction

This itinerary was completed on August 24, 2023, and all subsequent observations and considerations fully apply only to that day.

It is all on routes mapped on the hiking maps of the area, both the CAI maps of the Monti Lattari and those in the Amalfi Coast "cart&guide" series.

The entire route is included in OpenStreetMap and its derivatives.

Given all this basic documentation, just a bit of attention is enough and you won't get lost even if you are going for the first time as in our case.

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Ascent from Castellammare di Stabia to Monte Rotondo via Gragnano, Valle dei Mulini and Sentiero dei Cavalieri di Amalfi

Given that, in our case, the starting point of the hike is bound to the decision to use public transport based in Salerno, from the FS Station of Castellammare di Stabia you head towards Gragnano walking almost always on sidewalks and thus with little risk.

Crossing Gragnano, even those unfamiliar with its history immediately understand what drives the economy.

You reach the signposted junction for the entrance to the Valle dei Mulini, and you climb this historic valley on a paved road: here we are already on CAI 332.

Then you ascend with hairpin bends until the small village called Castello, and continue on dirt roads in the undergrowth until a gate just before a large multi-storey building.

Here CAI 332 turns sharply right and shortly after becomes a path.

With attention to trail markers at some forks, you climb onto the wooded ridge of Monte Pino, pass by the ruins of San Giacomo, and reach a short detour to the "Medieval Complex of Pino a Pimonte" with ruins of the Castle and Church now closed.

The Sentiero dei Cavalieri di Amalfi CAI 332 continues (always with attention to trail markers at forks) near the next ridge until it meets CAI 332a where the Cold Water Spring is indicated, today "very little productive" unlike another very generous one encountered lower down.

Throughout this last stretch there are many parallel tracks and at times we went slightly off the official line, but you quickly find your way back without risk of getting lost.

You continue east on CAI 332, now wider, encountering the first signs for the "Riserva Naturale Orientata Valle delle Ferriere", pass the junction with CAI 326a and shortly after join CAI 300 of the Alta Via dei Monti Lattari.

Turn left and after about 50 meters on flat ground you reach the sign "MONTE ROTONDO 1024 m" with various trail arrows.

The summit of Monte Rotondo is at 1029 meters and is a wooded elevation with no panorama and little hiking interest, reached by deviating slightly from the start of the descent towards Valle delle Ferriere.

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Descent from Monte Rotondo to Amalfi through Valle delle Ferriere

From the "MONTE ROTONDO 1024 m" sign you enter the meadow clearing, today with tall ferns, facing east.

You should stay to the left and brush past the fence of a small building, regaining the path in the woods immediately after.

From the end of the meadow clearing you can detour right for the few meters needed to reach the wooded summit of Monte Rotondo.

Continuing on the path you notice the first red marks, which a little lower are also accompanied by yellow marks.

Soon the trail bypasses a small but deep landslide, and after a couple of close hairpin turns we found about forty meters covered with low brambles: however, here there is a slightly higher parallel trail to bypass the problem.

Now you continue for a long stretch (we took a little over half an hour going slowly) on wide paths often alongside a deep channel-gully, with signs indicating to ignore all tracks entering the channel-gully.

After this good half hour (with some crossings of secondary gullies) we arrived at a slope without covering woodland where, as almost always in summer, there was a barrier of dense shrubs (brooms and similar) with some nice brambles in the middle.

It took us about 10 minutes to "pierce" this barrier, advancing very slowly to preserve clothing: the path underfoot was always visible and intuitive, and it is wise to pay attention to then find yourself on the right track.

From here the path becomes evident again with its signs and crossings of minor gullies, and we found a large fallen tree just before reaching the concrete structure in the Acqua del Ceraso area where there is a junction with the path ascending towards "Ammarrata Imbarrata" (see itinerary → From Amalfi to Positano bypassing the Agerola Plateau).

Continuing, you proceed roughly east, descend a few meters with tight turns then head roughly northwest to reach the crossing of the main valley gulley.

It is right at the start of this northwest traverse, before re-entering the woods, that we found the most challenging section of the entire hike.

The path is narrow and very high-exposed above the valley, but the problem was the almost total coverage of the trail with dense low grasses and weeds.

Maximum attention because it all looked the same, but only a narrow strip was solid, and to the right (in our walking direction) the foot sank into the grasses at the edge of a drop: no photos, never looked back and never looked more than a meter ahead beyond the feet.

After about a hundred meters, everything was easy in the woods up to the crossing of a first gulley, then a spectacular stretch towards a second gulley with many nearby waterfalls.

A few more meters and you rejoin the CAI trail network at «Fic'a Noce» locality.

From here you normally continue on CAI 301 on the right hydrological side until the junction with 325a and shortly after the branch to 325.

Reaching the metal footbridge descending to 325 in the last meters, we went straight on through the well-advertised fenced section with paid admission to the "Riserva Naturale Orientata Valle delle Ferriere": in the brochure it is called "Paradise Lost", and more or less that is what we experienced.

For 5 euros each we stayed inside for about 40 minutes, perhaps because we were the last of the day and the very kind guide Michele explained and showed us really everything and more about the natural peculiarities.

The Cascata del Canneto (or Upper Waterfall) at this time of year has little water flow, and to fully enjoy the area one should come during the central hours of the day when the sun can create beautiful "rainbow games" with the misted water.

The rest of the descent towards Amalfi is well known and quite busy, on a wide path that runs alongside various examples of "industrial archaeology" of the old paper mills.

Finally, four very crowded steps on the main street to reach the ferry embarkation pier to Salerno.