Amalfi & Cilento: Old & New!
Amalfi & Cilento: Old & New!
Ciclismo Classico guides Frank Yantorno and Dana Geraghty have just returned from a back-to-back coastal journey that combines trekking and cycling; Amalfi by foot followed by our NEWLY improved Cilento Coast Bike Tour.
Check out Frank’s amazing photos in this visual essay that tells all.
photo above by Frank Yantorno: Cilento Coast village
Here’s a photo essay of the latest Spring departures of our Amalfi Stroll and the NEW Cilento Coast Bike Tour. All photos taken by the talented photographer-guide Frank Yantorno.
PART I: The Amalfi Coast
The stunning Amalfi Coast has been calling visitors since the late 16th century when aristocratic Brits sent their sons and daughters on a tour of continental Europe to complete their education. Parents were not yet part of the touring unit; their role was to put up the money and to push these young adults across the English Channel: to the “”lower”” countries and, above all, to Italy. Samuel Johnson said: “A man who has not seen Italy is always conscious of an inferiority from not having seen what it is expected a man should see.”
Dana and a few Ciclismo Classico hiking guests enjoying the Amalfi Coast views!
{{cta(‘ae38b6d5-c480-4a93-84da-4d22572dfb4d’)}}
PART II: The Cilento Coast Bike Tour
Here are a few beautiful images from the NEW Cilento Coast trip as well as special moments and highlights of the week.
Daily riding with amazing Tyrrhenian Sea views
Day 1 includes a tour of a wonderful family style tour of winery with owners Assunta and Rafaele. We taste their very good but rather small production of Cilentano wines as well as a professional tasting of their extra-virgin olive oil.
Happy campers!
The Cilentano (from Cilento) dishes we enjoy on this trip range from the daily catch to mountain recipes that have been prepared by local people for centuries.
Speaking about the incredible food on this trip, Guide Frank Yantorno recalls: “”Many said the seafood made by locals Franco, his wife and daughter at the taverna in Santa Maria di Castellabate was the best seafood they ever had.””
We also go to Vatolla and have a cooking class with Anna Maria who runs the class with her husband. They grow all the produce and take great care and pride in the food they serve to their guests. She taught us some very simple but traditional Cilentano recipes such as home-made scialatielle pasta and scauratelli, a pretzel-shaped fried pizza and le fritte, a type of dessert over which she drizzles her home produced honey and rosemary. Our guests go crazy for the picnic lunch, and scauratielli! So much so that they brought the leftover scauratielli back to the hotel for breakfast the next day. Seventy-three year old hotel owner Gino got a bit emotional when he saw them as it stirred up memoriesof his mother’s cooking.””
Quaint, quiet villages. Very little tourism. We love it here!
“”On Day 2, we visit the buffalos at Vanullo, Italys only organic mozzarella farm. Some said it was the highlight of the week to see how well treated and happy the cows are. They even wake up every morning to classical music!””
That same day we head south to visit the ruins at Paestum. Several guests said they were “”very impressed to learn that these ruins are older than and in better condition than many of the monuments in Greece.””
Frank adds: “”Riding along the sea coast from Santa Maria Castellabate to Velia is a spectacular ride. As is Palinuro to Maratea with incredible views of the sea, just below us–1000 ft straight down below the road. No worries! There is a guard rail!””
{{cta(‘cb209f6a-88a1-482e-ac74-37c82ee2f922’)}}
