Ischia Escursioni, Author at ischiaescursioni.it

How to get to Ischia from Napoli Centrale train station

If you bought the train ticket and have never been to Ischia, you certainly won’t even know how to reach the port of embarkation for the island, right? No problem because here you will find the solution! Let’s start by saying that there are two ports of embarkation, the one from where the ferries leave which is Porta di Massa or Calata Porta di Massa and the one, which interests you, from which the hydrofoils leave: Molo Beverello.

How can I reach Molo Beverello from Napoli Centrale station?

This will surely be the question you are asking yourself and in this article you will find the most interesting way to do it and which you had probably discarded beforehand: getting to Molo Beverello by public transport.

Using public transport from Naples station to reach the hydrofoil that will take you to Ischia is fast and above all cheap. Obviously moving is easier if you don’t have too much luggage with you: a trolley each is perfect and will allow you to move in total autonomy and safety to get to the green island.

From the station to the port of Naples with Metro Line 1

Let’s get to the point, now I’ll explain how to do it and how to move. You will probably arrive by train at the station between platform 18 and platform 24 (depending on the company you used). Now what you need to do is get a ticket to take the subway. But where to buy it? On the station level, where you will arrive, there are two newsstands/tobacconists that you will find on the right or in front and on the right, they are the closest ones but don’t stop there: you would only waste time standing in line with people who also have to buy other things. Now take your suitcase and walk towards the center of the station where there are people stopping to see the arrivals and departures board, then go forward and to the right and just before the glass doors of the exit you will find in front of you a staircase and an escalator that goes downstairs. Use the ladder, go down and head left entering a walkway with shops on your right and left. Go ahead and walk for about a minute: remember that you have to take Line 1 so don’t take the first exit on the right (because that is Line 2) but the second, after a shop on the corner. Turn right and you’ll find another escalator that takes you down and outside.

Where should I buy tickets and where can I find the Metro Line 1

We’re almost there, now you are outside, go forward along the paved floor (and also looking at how futuristic the modern iron structure you find as a roof is) and you will find the subway entrance after about 1 minute on your left. Now, right in front of the entrance you will find the ticket offices, buy the ticket (even for the return so you will save time when you have to go home) return to the front and go through the turnstiles. Here you can choose two ways to go to the metro: the elevator or the escalators. If you find few people in front of the elevator I recommend you take this one because you will do it faster, otherwise go down all the flights of the escalator. The direction of the metro is unique, you can’t go wrong. Now you are at the Garibaldi stop which is also the terminus and if you are lucky you will probably be able to find a place to sit. If you can’t find a seat there’s no problem: you’ll have to get off between two stops. The stop you will need to get off at is Municipio. So Garibaldi – University – Town Hall. From the Municipio stop you have to reach the exit by going back to the surface and from the station concourse you have to use the exit on the right (near a wall on which an image of Naples is usually projected). Walk down the corridor and exit outside via the elevator or stairs.

From Piazza Municipio to Molo Beverello: a 7-minute walk*

Now you are outside, as a point of reference there is the Maschio Angioino in front of you; cross the road and go towards the square keeping to the right: you have to go around the construction site walking on the pavement. Going forward you will reach a meadow where you will have to turn left into a small walkway and continue along the road, in this case keeping to the left. Shortly after, passing under an ancient building you will find yourself on a bridge with a wooden floor that will take you right in front of the port. Now you are at the traffic light, wait for the green light and cross the road reaching the pavement in front. You will immediately notice that in front of you, on the right, there is the blue building that houses the ticket offices and behind it the pier from which the hydrofoil will leave that will take you to Ischia. Now you just have to queue to buy the ticket of the shipping company that leaves first and then go to the indicated departure pier. Congratulations you made it, happy holidays!

*UPDATE: Today the journey to reach the port from the “Municipio” metro stop is even easier and faster since the new route was inaugurated in 2023 which takes you directly to the port terminal.

How much do you save by arriving at the port by metro?

To go from the station to the port, if you find the connection immediately, it takes about 20 minutes and it is an easy route that you can take, as I told you at the beginning, if you don’t have much luggage. The cost of the ticket is €1.10 unlike the taxi fare which can cost around €11.00 (in this case I recommend that on peak days you apply the fixed rate at a cost of €13.00 where there are also including luggage) or the transfer service which costs approximately €35.00.

The convent of the Poor Clare nuns

In one of the most fascinating fortresses in Italy, the Aragonese Castle, there is a nunnery which preserves a fascinating history. Before talking about this story, however, it is necessary to contextualize it by talking a little about the Aragonese Castle of Ischia.

The Aragonese Castle of Ischia, if you come here you absolutely must visit it!

The Aragonese Castle represents Ischia in the world, anyone who spends their holidays here cannot fail to visit it. It has hosted many historical figures and today it has become a point of attraction for many tourists and a cultural center for events related to literature and art. It is in itself a fortress that contains centuries of history and is made up of 13 churches including the cathedral, accommodation for nobles and servants, terraces from which to admire a beautiful panorama of the Gulf of Naples, a prison, a nunnery and a cemetery below the church.

History of the Convent of the Poor Clare nuns of Ischia

The Convent of the Poor Clare nuns was active from 1577 to 1809, founded by the Neapolitan noblewoman Beatrice Quadra. She was a widow who, after her mourning, found consolation in prayer by opening the convent on the castle and hosting approximately 40 nuns who, at the time, lived on the hermitage of San Nicola, on Mount Epomeo. Most of them were first-born daughters of noble families destined from birth to monastic life to leave the family inheritance to the first-born male. Below the main church there is the monastery cemetery where the lifeless bodies of the nuns were decomposed on stone chairs with holes at the bottom, called “drainers”, and the sewage and bones dripped and were collected in earthenware basins placed on the underneath the chairs. From this custom came the Neapolitan term “puozza sculà” that is “may you drain”. This macabre practice was carried out to reflect on the uselessness of the body as a simple container of the spirit. Every day, the nuns came to the cemetery to pray for their lifeless sisters and to reflect on death but by remaining there for several hours they risked contracting serious illnesses, sometimes even fatal, due to the unhealthy environment that they breathed in that place.
The Convent of the Poor Clare nuns of Ischia was closed in 1810 following the secularization law issued by Gioacchino Murat where all the religious orders of the Kingdom of Naples were suppressed. The 16 surviving nuns moved to the Lanfreschi palace in Ischia Ponte and then to the convent of S. Antonio, and the deceased nuns were moved to the Ischia cemetery. Today the cemetery can be visited and the monastery has become a small hotel.

The love story of the Mortella Gardens

The name “Mortella” derives from the Neapolitan dialect “myrtle” and indicates the “divine myrtle”, a plant that grows abundantly among the volcanic rocks of the hill where the garden is located. The love story between Sir William Walton and Lady Susanna Walton and how they built the garden begins in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sir William Walton, before he met Lady Susanna, had a relationship for 15 years with an older woman who helped him grow his career. In 1947 she was 46 years old, single and went to Buenos Aires for an international conference of the Performing Right Society, Susanna was 22 years old at the time and worked for the British Consulate in Buenos Aires, to a press conference organized by her, for the composer, Sir William noticed her among the journalists and decided that the woman should marry him. It was love at first sight, that same evening Mr Walton surprised Susanna by asking her to marry him, in two weeks they got engaged and married after two months, leaving the couple’s family and friends in disbelief. The spouses left for Europe, more precisely for Italy, which William had visited in 1919. Fascinated by the beauty of the Gulf of Naples, William Walton chose the island of Ischia where he lived together with his wife for 35 years. The Waltons moved to Ischia in 1949 and purchased land in the Zaro area, in the municipality of Forio where in the 1960s they began to build the garden thanks to the help of the landscape architect Russell Page, who designed the entire structure of the area of the Valley. Lady Susanna, however, took care of the upper part of the garden called the Hill and during the works supervised the choice of plants and the project which she has been dealing with for more than 50 years with love, patience and energy, hosting more than 3000 species of exotic plants , enriched by greenhouses, streams, lakes, fountains allowing the cultivation of aquatic plants. In 1991 the Mortella was opened to the public, Lady Walton created the William Walton foundation which, after the latter’s death, inherited the garden. It is an organization that continues to this day to promote music, particularly that of Sir Walton, and to look after the garden. Today, with love and dedication, the foundation also opens numerous classical music and entertainment events to the public which are performed in particular in the Greek Theatre, a stage which has the beautiful panorama of the municipality of Forio as its backdrop.

Mount Epomeo

Born more than 100,000 years ago, Mount Epomeo is the highest peak on the island of Ischia with its 789 meters. In reality it is a submarine volcano that emerges from the water and from whose activity, according to the volcanological history of Ischia, the volcanoes of Barano, Montevezzi, Capogrosso, S.Pancrazio, Citara and Sant’Angelo were formed. From the stratified formation of the green stone it can be deduced, according to the local Vesuvian Observatory, that the last eruption dates back to 1302. Along the slopes of Mount Epomeo and throughout its circumference are the six island municipalities: Ischia, Casamicciola Terme, Lacco Ameno, Forio, Barano d’Ischia and Serrara Fontana municipality from which you have access to the path that leads to its summit and from which you can enjoy a fantastic panorama.

The Green Grotto of Ischia

The Green Grotto of Ischia can only be reached by sea and is located south-east of the island in the bay in front of Punta della Cannuccia. Arriving on a boat and diving into the sea with a few strokes you reach a natural cavity dug into the rock. Without knowledge of the place one would absolutely not say that by going inside the small cave you can find an inlet with a very shallow seabed made of soft sand and where inside a strange phenomenon, which develops by combining the light of the sun with the reflection of the water, which colors the skin an intense green.

Ischia Terme Health and Wellness

Ischia, between spas, health and wellness. Perhaps not everyone knows that the characteristic of the island of Ischia is given precisely by its spas which generate health and well-being. Specifically from the mineral properties of its waters which are drawn directly from the subsoil. In fact, not all thermal waters are the same: each natural spring has a different temperature and organoleptic properties based on the place of extraction and this is due to the volcanic nature of the island of Ischia. The thermal treatments that can be practiced in the establishments inside the hotel structures or in other suitable sites mainly consist of mud bath therapy and inhalation treatments. Thermal muds are typically indicated in the treatment and prevention of joint problems: arthritis, rheumatic arthrosis, osteoporosis, etc. Inhaled ones, on the other hand, are preferred for the treatment and prevention of respiratory diseases of the upper and lower tracts.

Ischia-style rabbit: typical island recipe.

The delicious Ischia-style rabbit. For a good result of the typical dish of the Ischia tradition, the recipe requires the use of an island rabbit from Fossa. Taking the rabbit, remove all the entrails, cut it into pieces, rinse it and dry it well. Take the innards and marinate them in wine for a few hours. In a pan, preferably terracotta, put extra virgin olive oil, a little devil pepper and a head of garlic (I recommend red nobia garlic). As soon as the garlic has browned, remove it from the heat, set it aside and add the rabbit previously cut into pieces into the saucepan, being careful and giving a golden and even sear to all the meat. Deglaze with plenty of white wine. Add the whole tomatoes (strictly from Piennolo di Ischia), the entrails, the previously removed head of garlic, add salt, a few leaves of thyme and marjoram and leave to cook over a low heat for no more than 20 minutes, making sure that the meat does not it dries out too much. The rabbit will be ready to serve when the sauce has thickened well and the meat almost seems to be sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Tradition dictates that the Ischia-style rabbit is accompanied by rigorously fresh and hand-cut French fries.
Enjoy your meal !

Author: Ischia Escursioni