The stage starts at the Rifugio Santa Maria dei Monti, in a wide and bright high-altitude basin, surrounded by pastures and mountain scrub. The first few metres follow the CAI 353 in a south-easterly direction, with an initial almost flat section that gradually introduces the long descent towards the coast.
After the first kilometre, the path enters a more wooded environment, alternating between earthy sections and stone mule tracks, with intermittent views of the Dragone valley and the ridges separating Cava, Tramonti and Ravello. The gradient increases steadily but is never technical: it is a continuous, regular descent that follows ancient pathways connecting the mountain hamlets and the coastal towns.
Around km 4.3 you reach the junction with the CAI 315 path, which is followed for a short section (up to km 4.7). Here the landscape changes: the woodland gives way to the first cultivated terraces, lemon groves and typical stone paving that characterise the entrance to the villages of the coast.
The final part of the itinerary is a long urban and semi-urban stretch, but in a spectacular location: steps, alleys, paved ramps descending towards the historical centre of Ravello, accompanied by increasingly wide views of the sea and the valley. The information boards located at the start and end of the stage mark the official entrance into the route of the Via Regia de La Cava.
The arrival in Ravello concludes a historic, scenic and very varied descent, which unites the high-altitude environment of the Lattari mountains with the terraced landscape of the coast.
In this leg, descents far outweigh the climbs, which are limited to small increases in altitude during the visit to the village of Ravello. You must therefore bear in mind, at least in the initial section, that you will have to tackle a significant descent which leads – in about 4 km – from the nearly 1050 m of the refuge down to the 400 m of Ravello. We recommend wearing comfortable shoes, dressing in layers, and bringing a hat and some spare clothing (socks, T-shirt). Along the route there is a water fountain near the church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, at about the halfway point, which can be reached with a detour of a few metres. It is useful to bring a water bottle of at least 2 litres. If you intend to walk several consecutive legs of the journey, check the availability of accommodation along the route. We recommend downloading the route tracks onto your phone and installing one of the main hiking apps (OSMand, Locus Map, Komoot, Strava) to follow the correct path.
SANTA MARIA DEI MONTI REFUGE
Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Scala)
Church of San Piero (Scala)
Duomo di San Lorenzo (Scala)
Church of Santa Maria del Lacco
RAVELLO
Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Torello di Ravello)
Church of San Michele (Torello di Ravello)
Church of Saints Philip and James (Castiglione di Ravello)
Via Richard Wagner
Palaces of Via San Giovanni del Toro
Church of San Giovanni a Toro
Belvedere Principessa di Piemonte
Duomo Basilica Square (Diversion/alt.)
Museum of the Cathedral of Ravello
Church and cloister of San Francesco
Church of St Peter on the Hill
Gardens and courtyards on Via San Francesco and Via Santa Chiara
Villa Cimbrone
Villa Rufolo
Church of Saint Tryphon
Princess of Piedmont Belvedere
Church of Santa Maria a Gradillo
Church of St Francis
Monastery of Saint Clare
Sanctuary of Saints Cosmas and Damian
Church of the Most Holy Annunciation
Panorama of Via Boccaccio
