” Path of Blackbeard ” – ” Path of the Agaves in Bloom ”
Durata: 6,7 km
Travel time: 3h 30 ‘
Route – No particular difficulty. Not excessive difference in height and easy path. Only in the detour to the caves, which is optional, due to the unstable bottom, maximum caution is recommended.
Approach – departure and arrival from the church of San Luca in Praiano with good parking possibilities along the approach road and some of its detours.
Logistics – Arrival and departure from Praiano, reachable both from Salerno / Amalfi and from Naples / Sorrento / Positano both by car and by public transport.
Refreshment points – Bars and restaurants in Praiano. The detour mentioned in the text allows you to reach, halfway through, the hamlet of Bomerano equally equipped with bars, trattorias and restaurants.
The Praiano church, dedicated to San Luca, is easily accessible. You pass to the right of the building to take the staircase that goes up to the left. At the end of the staircase, continue to the right. After a confluence with the road, the road leads inland. A little further on, when you reach a fork in the road, you skip the descent to the right and continue slightly uphill. After less than a kilometer, you find yourself below an abandoned house. Here the staircase that climbs to the left leads to the highest part of the promenade. When you reach the impluvium, a stream that is dry in summer, you pass on the eastern side of the valley and, after a few flights of stairs, you reach a crossroads.
To get closer to the caves, go up to the left and, shortly after, turn right (continuing to the left in about twenty minutes you will reach Bomerano, a hamlet of Agerola).
Before the Grotta di Santa Barbara there is another small ravine: the Grotta dei Drappi. If you are equipped with a torch, you can enter it to admire its unique geological conformations. In the past, the large cavities of the caves of Santa Barbara gave shelter to local populations, shepherds and brigands who, it is said, could reach the town of Bomerano through underground passages. The more daring, with a minimum of climbing, can go into the deepest cavities and eventually reach, on the right, outside, even the ruins of a small church that preserves the remains of frescoes. Returning to the deviation, continue left to follow a wider track that leads in the direction of Furore. Further on, coinciding with a small saddle, there is a branch that climbs to the left. You ignore it and continue straight up to the driveway, at the point where it ends with a parking area. Below right, a short detour leads to the small church of Sant’Alfonso. From the parking area, follow the rolling stock up to a block of flats.
Here the road joins the road that descends towards Amalfi. Go over the hairpin bend on the right and take the stairs leading down. You cross a pedestrian and continue to descend to the next road in the hamlet of Sant’Elia Vale what was said for the previous walk, both for a possible visit to the church and for the continuation of the path, up to the point where the first ones meet. houses of Praiano where, instead, go down to the left, towards Marina di Praia, continue to the right, towards Praiano. Ignoring a subsequent link (on the left) with the rolling stock, follow the pedestrian section up to the church of San Luca.
