Coastal Campania

Including the stunning Amalfi coast and Sorrento peninsula, Campania’s coastline offers wine lovers the chance to discover local vineyards and native grapes during a sunny and relaxed seaside holiday. Carlo Capalbo shares her highlights.

- Carlo Capalbo

IT’S A BRILLIANT summer’s day and I’m standing in the dappled shade of a giant arbour as intricate as a spider’s web. With gnarled branches that extend as far as the eye can see, this unique pergola has been created by ancient grapevines, some of which are more than 400 years old. They’re still producing abundantly today.

I’m 300m above the Mediterranean at Tramonti – the name means both ‘between the mountains’ and ‘sunsets’. It’s reached by winding roads that climb from the Amalfi Coast via Ravello or Maiori.

On the northern side of this pass, named the Valico di Chiunzi, is Mt Vesuvius. It’s mainland Europe’s only active volcano, and is happily now dormant.

‘This has always been an important area for wine production,’ explains Gaetano Bove, who runs the estate of Tenuta San Francesco (www. vinitenutasanfrancesco.com), with its historic vineyard. ‘After all, Pompeii was the Las Vegas of ancient Rome, a holiday place where people only worked half-days and focused on sex, food and wine.

‘Tramonti’s wine supplied the local area and was also exported when Amalfi ruled the waves from the 9th to 11th centuries.’

There are geological reasons for this longevity. The Monti Lattari – or ‘milky mountains’ – were among the first to appear out of the Mediterranean, even before the volcanoes. Their soils include layers of pumice, the light volcanic rock that floats on water. ‘Pumice brings minerals to the roots of the vines and traps humidity that releases slowly during summer,’ Bove says.