Emergency Trip to Castiglione Beach

Introduction

This year ET season starts with a trip to the beautiful Castiglione Beach. Going to a beach in the Amalfi coast has always been something we wanted to do and being both of us so in love with the town of Ravello, we couldn’t help but going there as soon as we found out (thanks Google) that such a nice place has its own beach. Sit tight and find a comfy place in our Little Red Car , as we are about to get through the Valico di Chiunzi once again!

The Location

Ravello is arguably one of the nicest and most quite place in the whole Amalfi coast, despite being among the most popular and visited town in this part of the region. As Amalfi, Maiori, Minori and Positano have their own beaches, so does Ravello, even from its 100m above the sea level of elevation, and that beach is Castiglione Beach.
The beach is reached a few kilometers past Ravello, following a tricky road immersed in nature which descends almost to sea level. From there, half of your day will be spent searching for an expensive car parking (that’s basically what happens if you get there past sunrise), as the majority of street side parking is reserved for those who live there.
Having parked the car, the journey proceeds down the road, up to a small, almost indistinguishable sign on the left side of the street saying “Spiaggia Ravello”. This sign is placed next to an entrance which leads to the stair that brings you to the beach. The stair itself is narrow, though it is shaded and has many places where a rest can be taken while descending to the beach, perhaps to admire the beautiful view of the mountain descending steeply into the see, offering colours that are no less than other, more famous beaches in the whole world.

The Beach

The beach has a beauty of its own. Wedged between two steeply descending ledges of the mountain at its back, the grey colour of the rocky beach makes almost a neat contrast with the see, whose colours range from aquamarine (near the shore) to emerald green (where the water starts to get deeper) to pure blue at open see. Because of Castiglione Beach being part of a mountain, the seabed descends steeply as well, so that, after just five to ten meters from the shore, there isn’t (touching the seabed).

The Beach is a regular rocky one, with just a Bathhouse for those who dislike the idea of bringing their own Beach umbrella (though the idea of bringing one seems not to find consensus among locals, who go to the beach armed with a mere towel and their precious Merenda). We went for the free side of the beach and took our glorious mappatella with us, (so that our place looked more like a campsite than a beach setup) as well as some panini prepared the day before, two beers and a bag of taralli nzogna e pepe (tarallo with lard and pepper).
Needless to say, having a bath there is simply something to do once in a lifetime. The water is just at the right temperature, slightly cold but not too cold, so that a nice and refreshing bath can be taken once in a while to avoid the asphyxiating heat which rises due to the geological conformation of the beach (we are talking about 37 degrees Celsius, approximately 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Final Thoughts

This ET marks the beginning of the 2021 Summer Season of all our Beautiful Viewers. Beside that, the Castiglione Beach is another entry of an endless list of places which are soon to be no more, being ruined by the excessive and unregulated tourism: although the beach itself is kept clean and tidy by the locals, swarms of both small boats and huge private ships moor too close to the coast, threatening the seagrass forests on the seabed and disrupting the biological rhythm of the fish species by polluting the part of the sea surrounding them. Needless to say, a discrete quantity of such litter finds its way to the beach, severely limiting the number of times, during the day, when a bath can be taken without swimming in all sorts of waste.

“If you own a boat, stay at least 600m from the shore. Pollution is a serious thing: there is no need for massive action, just start by throwing your bottle in the right can, that’s what really makes a difference!”

The BV Team