Punta Campanella

The end of the land, and of the myth

Punta Campanella is the very tip of the Sorrento peninsula, the rocky point where the Gulf of Naples meets the Gulf of Salerno and the mainland finally gives up five kilometres short of Capri.

The ancients thought this a holy place. Greek sailors built a sanctuary to Athena on the point, said to have been founded by Ulysses in thanks for escaping the sirens, whose islets lie just round the corner off Positano. The Romans rededicated it to Minerva, and ships came in below the cliffs to leave offerings. The road to it, the Via Minerva, was laid in the 4th century BC, and long stretches of its Roman paving survive under your boots.

In 1334 Robert of Anjou built a watchtower on the temple site to spot Saracen raiders; when they came, a bell was rung to warn the towers along the coast, which is where the name comes from. The Turks destroyed it and it was rebuilt in 1556. Napoleon's brother-in-law, Murat, added gun emplacements to besiege the British on Capri, and an automatic lighthouse now blinks beside them. The sea below is the strictest zone of the Punta Campanella marine reserve.

Easier than it looks, harder on the way back

The walk is all downhill to the point, around 300 metres over three kilometres, and all uphill back. The first half is a paved lane, the second a rough, stony track with little shade. Allow time at the point: this is a place to sit.