Maronti of Corafà

Testaccio is now part of the municipality of Barano, but in the past, from 1806 to 1879, was one of the municipalities of the island of Ischia. At that time the expanse of Maronti was the culminations of all types of boats come from the near and far beaches and the road that leaded to Marina from the town center was just called “the road of the trade”. Many people were strangers who came to Testaccio, or because they need care at the Olmitello source or because they were simply eager to travel and learn.

One of the most distinguished guests of this charming village was Count Giorgio Corafà, general and viceroy of the Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He purchased a house located on the street that bears his name and that leads to the beach of Maronti. He came to Ischia for the spa and just at Testaccio died at the age of 83, in 1775.
Giorgio Corafà is best remembered for having built a road that would allow coming down from Testaccio to Maronti Beach. The road was built with volcanic stones and lined with mulberry plants.
In the ‘60s, the Municipal Administration of Barano later realized the scenic and spectacular street full of curves that leads from Piazza Mar del Plata "softly" to the long beach of Maronti.
Today there is not probably tourist who comes to Ischia that does not already know, the word "Maronti", certainly no one goes away without visiting this magnificent stretch of sea with an adjacent beach surrounded by majestic hills, whose cliffs hide the revenue of ravines that, in Ischia, are known by the term "caves", home of powerful hot springs as that one of "Cava Scura."
About 3 km long, in the sixteenth century the formidable Saracens chose this place as their preferred port of call on the island of Ischia, so much so that the locals erected here, as in other parts of the island, towers for groups of two: one on the island just in front of the village of Sant'Angelo, the other in the area of ​​Testaccio, on the road leading to the bay.
Today in hotels, bars, restaurants and private beaches, Maronti is the only location able to activate an economy of respect: the beach also has preserved its wild nature as anyone can see by visiting the aforementioned thermal baths of the source Cavascura, or the Olmitello source with water to which was attributed a therapeutic property of “divine nature” or the part of the beach that lies in the town of Fontana Serrara with spectacular fumaroles where the thermal water is maintained at high temperatures right on the shore and it is not uncommon that you can be captured by a great scent of crispy chicken, which is cooked just below the sand, of course, wrapped in aluminum foil!
On  October 19, 1999 on the initiative of some entrepreneurs operating at the beach of Maronti, was founded the Consortium of Maronti with the primary purpose of promoting the development of tourism on the island of Ischia through all kinds of activities to ensure in particular the protection and preservation of the environment. “Our consortium was created in hard times for the Maronti beach”, says President Giocanni Pesce, “the beach was semi - destroyed by a big storm and we decided to put together mainly with the aim of reconstruction, then also to give more strength to the establishments and accommodations. Today there are 31 members among hotels, restaurants and beaches and the Consortium, even if afar from disastrous storms like that of 14 years ago,  looks after each winter to restore shine to this wonderful place focusing a lot to the cleaning and preservation of environment. The Maronti beach is the only one on the island to be equipped with one boat that cleans, with special instruments, the sea surface by pollutants, funded by the Consortium and even a defibrillator of paramount importance. There are many other initiatives put in place by 1999 to this day, that continue to carry out the cleaning of gullies overhanging the beach, environmental protection, coordination on orders to suppliers, the action of persistent advertising on the ground”.
Michele Iacono, former Minister of Tourism and the environment of the City of Barano, describes itself as “an entrepreneur worked in politics”. His love for this land is visceral and he shows us wider the beauty of the beach of Maronti: “Giorgio Corafà, which is actually descended from the Carafa family, built the road consisting of 365 steps from the Brotherhood of St. Mary of Constantinople that leads to Maronti beach, along which there is also the famous vapor cave, where he stopped before going down to the bay. The same Viceroy commemorated this event with a commemorative plaque in Piazza Testaccio together with the municipality that wanted to create instead an obelisk with under a small plate of mentioning the same Corafà family. The current road was built in the early ‘60s although in the ‘30s was alive the idea and the design of a direct connection from Sant’Angelo in Testaccio. In 2002, the Renaissance and in 2004 the implementation of safety nets as well as the installation of a barrier to prevent further sea surges. The Maronti beach still has a real “natural replacement” of sand with mud and debris that with the rain get down on the beach always restoring new life to the whole coastline. We are facing one of the most beautiful beaches of the island with waters that never in 10 years of Department has been indicated as polluted: a paradise to be preserved!”
Maronti: an enchantment that is waiting to you to charm and leave on your skin and in your heart an indelible mark of your holiday in Ischia!