Ego Rent IschiaThe Path of the Gods: Discover the Myths of Ischia
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The Route
38 km between volcanoes, Greek ruins and timeless villages: the island loop that combines the oldest history in the Mediterranean with the pleasure of riding in silence
Some islands are visited, others are lived. Ischia belongs to the second category, but only if you choose to move through it the right way. The Path of the Gods is a circular route of 38 kilometers that touches the most historically and scenically charged places on the island, following a precise narrative thread: the Greek myths that for millennia gave names to the rocks, the volcanic smoke, the sea that changes color every hour.
The name is no coincidence. Ischia was Inarime to the Romans, Pithecusae to the Greeks — the oldest Hellenic colony in the Western Mediterranean, founded around 770 BC. This is where Zeus chained Typhon beneath the earth. This is where Mycenaean sailors stopped before pushing further west. To travel across this island is to cross layers of history stacked like volcanic rock: every bend hides something.
The route runs clockwise from Ischia Porto, climbs along the northern slope through Casamicciola and Lacco Ameno, reaches the most spectacular point of the Sant'Angelo promontory to the south, and returns along the eastern coast to the Aragonese Castle. It is not a demanding route — the elevation gain is moderate and almost entirely concentrated in the climb toward Serrara Fontana — but it is long enough to require an unhurried start and a relaxed pace. And being unhurried on this island is exactly the right condition.
An e-bike or electric scooter is the natural choice for this itinerary: quiet enough to hear the wind through the vineyards, agile enough to stop wherever you like, and powered by clean energy that pairs well with the idea of traveling through a landscape with three thousand years of history worth protecting. With EGO Rent Ischia you can pick up your vehicle right at the port when the ferries arrive and set off straight away.
The route is signposted but not always consistently: we recommend keeping it open on Google Maps or Komoot and not relying on signs alone. The roads are all paved and present no technical difficulty. Bring water, a light layer for the Serrara climb (even in summer the altitude makes itself known), and the willingness to stop whenever something catches your eye — because it will happen often.
Route Stages
1Lacco Ameno and the Cup of Nestor: where it all began
The first stop takes you to Lacco Ameno, Italy's smallest municipality by area and one of the most extraordinary in historical density. Here, in 1954, on the beach of Santa Restituta, archaeologists unearthed the Cup of Nestor: a ceramic fragment bearing three verses in archaic Greek script, dated between 740 and 720 BC. It is considered one of the oldest poetic texts in Europe, and can still be found at the Archaeological Museum of Villa Arbusto, a few minutes' walk from the seafront. Stop at the museum before moving on. It takes no more than an hour, and it will give you a way of reading everything else on the route: you will understand that the island you are riding across has been inhabited, loved, and narrated for three thousand years, and that every stone beneath your wheels has something to say.
2Serrara Fontana and the Epomeo crater: the breath of Typhon
The climb toward Serrara Fontana is the most demanding stretch of the route and the most rewarding. As you ascend, the landscape shifts: village alleys give way to vineyards, then chestnut trees, then moss-covered rocks and fumaroles rising from underground. We are at the heart of Mount Epomeo, the dormant volcano that the Greeks identified as the prison of Typhon, the primordial monster defeated by Zeus. At Serrara, leave your vehicle and take the footpath to the summit — about thirty minutes on foot. From the top, on a clear day, you can see Vesuvius, the Phlegraean Islands, the outline of Naples. You see the entire gulf. It is one of those views that stays with you. Descending toward Sant'Angelo, the fishing village clinging to the cliffs on the southern slope, the sense of having crossed something ancient is impossible to ignore.
3Ischia Ponte and the Aragonese Castle: where myth becomes stone
Arriving at the Aragonese Castle closes the route in the most dramatic way possible. The rock on which it stands was already a sacred site for the Greeks landing at Pithecusae — one of those places that every passing civilization felt the need to mark with its presence. Normans, Angevins, Aragonese, monks, prisoners, poets: all have left something on this rock. It is worth visiting the castle interior, in particular the Castle Museum and the Church of the Immacolata. If you still have energy — and on an e-bike you usually do — end the afternoon in Ischia Ponte, the old village behind the castle, with its narrow streets, scents of lemon and sea salt, and restaurants right on the water. Then return your vehicle to EGO Rent and take home the memory of an island that never stops surprising you.