A sea to love

Navigating to Ischia is the first pleasant experience that welcomes the traveler on our island.
The view of the island from the sea is impressive, it is a promise of joy, as Kaden said. The rugged coastline enclosed by blacks lava blocks against which waves the sea ... then the beach among the cliffs that penetrating the interior meets the most luxuriant vegetation.

The luxuriant broom, silvery olive trees, vines, pine, mastic, bay leaves all shades of green that make up an enchanting harmony with the azure waves of the Tyrrhenian and light brown of the tuffaceous soil.
If you stay on our island should enjoy the experience of a boat trip to visit it in its natural aspects. Solemn, powerful and superb this is the fair Ischia we see from the sea.
We start from the northern section of the island near the Port of Ischia or Pantanello, so called once. It is an ancient crater. Once it was separated from the sea by a mouth of only 30 meters. By the will of Ferdinand II of Bourbon was transformed into a harbor. The peak of St. Alessandro closes the port to the west where is a distinct cove, the beach of Inglesi where debris of black lava emerge in the shape of rocks from the sea. From Punta del Castiglione to Punta Perrone the coast is indented and vegetation, always lush, grows in the shade of Mount Tabor and Mount Rotaro. We arrived at Marina di Casamicciola, from which the view is kidnapped by the rolling hills of deep greenery. From Marina di Casamicciola, beyond the Punta del Pozzo, we reach the sandy beach of Lacco Ameno. The coast is charming and picturesque and close behind with the hills of Mezzavia, Pannella and Castanito. The extreme border to the northwest is Mount Vico where is the small but romantic bay of San Montano. Set in one of the most beautiful thermal parks of the island and an ancient tower (today’s renowned hotel).
The beach merges with the Mediterranean maquis that generously adorns the bay and extends up to the forest of Zaro where rises with all its charm The Colombaia by Luchino Visconti. The stubborn vegetation extends up over the lava that, rushed down from mountain Falconera and mets the sea with bizarre and sometimes disturbing shapes. The dark rocks, wild and jagged form the Punta Caruso. And from here the eye of the sailor gets lost in the bank of Chiaia, the Marina Punta del Soccorso and Forio. This peak is a rock that juts out into the sea, from which rises the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Soccorso, a white and hospitable church to which fishermen turn in times of trouble. Not far from the Punta del Soccorso to the south, are The Camerate, islets in the sea. From here, and up to the Bay of Citara the tuff coast has been subject to severe erosion. So even the rocks that had once symbolic forms, like the beak of the Eagle or the Reefs of lovers, today have changed. The tuff coast, often covered by reeds, extends down to the beach of Cava dell’isola. The “Red Rocks” interrupt the beach of Cava and introduce the Citara Bay. A series of rocks, the Pietra Bianca, the Pietra Spaccata, the Pietra Nera, the Scoglio del Gabbiano, seem to want to defend in the past this corner of paradise so vulnerable, against the attacks of the Saracens ... today, alas, against its own inhabitants. The Citara owes its name to Venus Citarea, to which the Syracusans built a temple on this coast.
The Bay is closed to the south from Punta Imperatore at its end, the intense green of the Mediterranean maquis, overlooking the old lighthouse of the Navy. From Punta Imperatore, to the south to Punta Chiarito the coast is jagged, but absolutely lovely: rugged volcanic rocks not touched by anyone except by the force of wind and sea that have sculpted their perfection. Thus, for example, we can distinguish the Stone of the ship (Pietra della nave).
At the foot of Punta Chiarito is one of the most beautiful bays of the island, Sorgeto. Black pebbles forming natural pools of warm water. Behind Punta Chiarito stands the Punta Sant'Angelo which forms a promontory of lava linked to the island by an isthmus where there is a nice beach: Cala del Rosso. Sant'Angelo is presented as a set of small white, light blue and pink houses, including the bougainvillea, capers and prickly pears.
To the east of Sant'Angelo is Marina dei Maronti. From the black sand and the hot fumaroles one reaches the pebbled of Petrelle. From the volcanic hills that extend inward where flow the waters of two mineral springs that mix on the beach with water of the Sea: Cava Scura and Olmitello. The Punta della Gnora, superb and impressive closes to the East the Bay. A little further on the "Scarrupata of Barano" one of the wildest places on the island. The green sea, a small stony beach made hospitable by small vineyards, a garden ripped from the rock, a small restaurant, a wooden dock. The wall is wonderful: white and yellow tuff, black lava, red lapilli where clumber up agaves and prickly pears. The coast continues massive and impervious, Punta Cavallara, Capo Portella, Punta San Pancrazio up to the bay of Cartaromana where you can find a hospitable environment with its towers, the fishing village, the Aragonese Castle. The vertical walls of the Castle frighten but, once again, the magnificent vegetation can mitigate even the most hostile environment. So one can see the gardens, aromatic paths, the mastic, the helichrysum. After the Castle, gaze gets lost in the Borgo di Celsa, now Ischia Ponte, trying to distinguish the undefined boundaries of the small houses, cellars and churches.
And so our journey comes to an end, before Punta Molino, with the small beach, the black lava and the old jail, then the Beach of Pescatori, and finally Punta San Pietro, which borders to the east, the Port of Ischia, our starting point. A green hill crowned by the beautiful villa of Anton Dohrn, founder of the Zoological Station in Naples, today marine ecology laboratory, a place of knowledge of fundamental importance for the protection of our environment.
And it is just the natural environment with the morphological characteristics, varieties of Flora and Fauna, that makes unique and inimitable our land and we will be grateful for the intense emotions that a boat trip gives us.