Walking Wednesday: Belvedere di Migliera

Belvedere di Migliera … sounds exotic, no? It was last weekend’s hiking destination, when I spent a a couple of days in Italy with my sister. Or to be more precise, we spent it around the Bay of Naples. Although the city of Naples didn’t really strike us (more on that later) the area around it is pretty stunning. We spent one of our days on the small cosmopolitan island of Capri (where there’s little cosmopolitan in winter, believe me on that one) and even though you may not expect it, there are actually quite some good hikes here to check out. The one we did, took us to Belvedere di Migliera on the southern shores of Capri.

To get to the start of the hike, make your way to the town square of the small village of Anacapri, Piazza Vittoria. From here, take Via Capuscuro and follow that all the way until it changes into Via Migliera. After a while, you will reach a turn to the right, ignore this and go left up the stairs instead, following the small way that’s still called Via Migliera.

Capri is known for its narrow streets. Even though they are called streets, you won’t be able to drive on them with a proper car. So most people drive a small motorized vehicle or a motorbike. The Via Migliera is one of those streets. During the hike, you will pass by vineyards, pretty old houses and orchards filled with lemontrees. On the left there are ongoing hills and on the right, there are scenic panoramas all over the island and also the Bay of Naples, at least when the weather is good.

After about half an hour (2km) you will reach the Belvedere di Migliera, completely surrounded by trees. Upon getting there, at first all you see is the sea in the distance. My sister already went to the edge of the viewpoint and screamed “wow, this is gorgeous” so after taking her picture (seizing the moment there were no other tourists) I made my way over and looked down. The steep drop off is truly dramatic and the rocky coast is unlike you would have expected.

After admiring the view on the Punta Carena Lighthouse and surrounding rocks, don’t forget to walk up to the next viewpoint, with views over the Faraglioni rock formations, that are even more dramatic than the Migliera. It’s a great place to overthink life and get swept away by the blowing wind, trying to push you over…

On the way back (we took the same route as it was starting to rain and didn’t fancy  getting too wet) make sure to visit the small Philosopher’s Park that is right beside the viewpoint. I have to say though that after we found 2 dead rats in 1 minute, we didn’t continue as we were grossed out, but I’m sure it’s a lovely place in the summertime : – )

Within the hour we were back at the centre of the town, just before it started pouring with rain. This little hike definitely was the highlight of our day on Capri. We found this stroll in the Lonely Planet guidebook that we brought, without it I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have found out about this hike since it’s pretty well-hidden and not signposted.

The only thing that didn’t cooperate (again) was the weather. This is the third Walking Wednesday and we got 100% on dark weather. No sunshine, no blue skies, just grey and clouds. Better days will come, I’m sure … hopefully this weekend when I plan on heading out to Reichswald in Germany for some exploring…

Want to read more about our hikes? Then go to our previous Walking Wednesday posts or any of the following:
– Angel’s Landing in Zion NP: do or don’t?
– Tramping New Zealand: the Kepler Track
– The Inca Trail: can you do it? 

Thanks for sharing!