Trekking on the Amalfi Coast: from Minori to the San Nicola Convent

Place of Departure: Minori

Place of Arrival: Convent of San Nicola

Walking time: 1 hour approx

Degree of difficulty: easy

The San Nicola convent can be reached by path from all surrounding towns - Tramonti, Maiori, Minori and Ravello. The route suggested here is somewhat longer but well worth it.

The walk starts in Minori. After crossing the whole length of the town to the Via delle Antiche Cartiere (Old Paper Mills Street), take the route of steps and dirt path.

You will pass alongside the old paper mills powered by the small stream until you get to Sambuco, a small hamlet in a narrow valley lush in vegetable plots and gardens still intensely cultivated.

After Sambuco, the path climbs up through woods and scrub with species of evergreen such as holmoak, arbutus and heather and mixed wood trees such as alder, chestnut, ash and sycamore.

The wood skirts the old buildings used as sheep pens and even houses, like the so-called Mandrino, an abandoned farmhouse, and leads you to the convent.

The building was built in 1628 by the Augustan friars and is in good condition. One part was restored by volunteers who reopened a small chapel to the public. Various paths take you back down.

One of the most interesting, and most commonly taken, is the one through Torre, a tiny settlement in a lovely location, and on to Minori.

The convent stands on a hill 486m above sea level and is in the centre of a series of valleys that cuts the Lattari Mountains perpendicularly. The view is beautiful: to the left the jagged mountain tops of Mount St.Angelo, Mount Finestra, the Demanio Mountains and Avvocata; straight ahead the Regina Minor valley and Minori; to the right the rocky spur with Ravello and Scala and the sea out to Capo di Conca.