Agerola

Agerola isn't a single town but a scattering of hamlets—Bomerano, Pianillo, Campora, Ponte, San Lazzaro, Santa Maria—spread across a high plateau in the Monti Lattari at around 600 metres, inland and above the Amalfi Coast rather than on it. The setting is agricultural and terraced, with wooded ridges like Cervigliano rising over small cultivated plots, a world apart from the crowded coastal towns below even though it's historically tied to Amalfi, which once drew timber from these mountains for its shipyards.

The main reason travelers come here is Bomerano, starting point of the Sentiero degli Dei, the Path of the Gods—a dramatic trail along ledges and ravines that opens onto views of the coast, Capri, and the Li Galli islets, passing through vineyards and lemon groves as it descends toward Positano. It's one of the best walks in southern Italy, and doing it from Agerola downhill is easier than climbing up from the coast.

Beyond hiking, Agerola is known for its fiordilatte, a fresh cow's-milk cheese made from local Agerolese cattle, considered among the best versions of this cheese in Campania. The villages themselves are modest and rural, with scattered old churches and a castle at San Lazzaro, offering a quiet, unpolished counterpoint to the glamour just over the ridge.