I describe here those hikes which you can do starting from the villa or which we like most.  Click the text and you go directly to the description of the walk/hike. When I selected the photos I recognized that I very much like sunsets. And its true to watch a sunset from the villa, or from the restaurant La Brace in Praiano, or at the end of a hike to the monastery San Domenico or Il Sentiero degli Dei is always fascinating for me as the colors and the light changes from minute to minute. The combination of sea and mountain makes it really special. See the photo I took walking from the villa to Nocelle. For some minutes the rocks turned red - wonderful.  For more pictures from the famous hike "sentiero degli dei"  you see in the picture galleries of this website:  http://www.villa-la-madonnina.com/. The photo above is one of them.

La Madonnina - Marina di Praia - Praiano - La Madonnina

This  is a nice walk to discover the surroundings of the villa. You see the beautiful valley and port of Praiano Marina di Praiano, you pass the tower which you see from the Villa and get a first impression about  the nice town of Praiano. It takes about 1,30  hours but you can shorten it by returning after you have reached the tower. The photo on the left shows Marina di Praia seen from the sea.

At the exit of the villa you turn left  and walk along the  Amalfitana.  Looking back  you  have a breathtaking view to the coast. You pass the tunnel and then decent down to Marina di Praia,  the port of  Praiano.  From there the fishermen go fishing with their traditional rowing boats, which you can watch from the villa every morning.  Here you also find a couple of restaurants - they are the closest to the villa. Now continue the walk taking the path on the right side of the bay. You can walk around the cliff below the tower, but the path has here a dead end in front of the Africana a discotheque built into a natural cave - open only in summer. To continue go back to the restaurant La Pirata. There you use the path which leads up to the tower,  which is today used as a studio by the artist Paolo Sandulli. Its worth while to visit him. See the culture section. From the bottom of the tower you have a nice view on the coast to the east and west.
Now you can return home the same way and finish your short exploration. To go there and return will take about one hour. To continue the tour to the center of Praiano,  I recommend  to take with you the plan of Praiano, which you find in the villa. Its easier to follow the plan than to follow my description. The walk gets a bid harder now as it heads up the hill to the center of Praiano (about 180 m, 550 ft above sea level.  Most of the time you use now century old stone stairs which connect the different levels of the village. You reach the center at the church of San Genaro. From there you have a nice view down to the coast. Now I recommend not to return the same way you came but go to the east there is a path which leads you down to the Amalfitana.
Photos:

Marina di Praia seen from the sea	View to the east	View down

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La Madonnina - Fiordo di Furore - Punta Tavolo - Marina di Furore - La Madonnina

This walk leads you to the the Fiordo di Furore and then up into the wild romantic ravine to Punta Tavolo and back. You pass an old lime kiln. From the Punta you have a nice view down to the sea.  It takes about 1,30 hours from the villa to Punta Tavolo.  The highest point is 215 m (about 650 ft) above sea level.
Description: At exit of the villa you turn right and walk along the Amalfitana. Nice views down to the sea and to some villas below the street.
Then  you reach Fiordo di Furore (the ancient port of Furore - a  village up in the mountain). The bridge spans a narrow ravine, which is called il Fiordo. The people claim that its the only fjord south of Norway. Anyway it looks great and you see the charming former fisher homes which were the place of a romance between the director Roberto Rosellini and the actress Anna Magnani when they produced a film. The photo shows the houses before renovation. Now it looks far cleaner but less romantic... There is an interesting museum down in the fjord both featuring this romantic episode but also the industrial history (mills and paper production) and rare plants. Worthwhile a visit. For your walk you pass the bridge. A path starts immediately at the end of the bridge and leads you first a few meters down and then up into the wild romantic valley with rich vegetation. Rare plants are found there which were left over from the time glaciers covered nearly whole of Europe. You pass an old lime kiln mill which is renovated. The path gets less comfortable as some steps are quite steep. But don't give up. The landscape is amazing. Steep rocks, green vegetation. The busy Amalfitana is far away. The path turns then right and reaches after some zig zag the edge of the valley. From there you have a nice view down to the sea.  To return you use the same path.
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La Madonnina - Praiano- Convento di San Domenico - La Madonnina

Nice walk to a monastery  which was built around 1599 a/c. You can visit an interesting old church (if its open) and will have breathtaking views towards  the West and the East. It takes about 1,5 hours to go there. (30 min when taking the car as far as possible).  The highest point is 364 m (about 1039 ft) above sea level.

Description: From the Monastery Convento di San Domenico you have the most  wonderful view possible down to the coast as far as Capri (see the photo) and from Vettica Maiore you have a similar excellent view east to Conca di Marini.  To go there you can save energy by taking the car to Praiano, there before entering the tunnel you turn right and take the streets which lead up the hill. Soon you see the indication San Domenico, follow it till you reach the end of the street and hopefully find a place for parking your car. Even if you don't like to walk its worth while to go there and enjoy the view down to the sea. From there you can see the monastery up in the mountain and you need 30 minutes to reach it. When you prefer to walk turn left at the gate of the villa, follow the Amalfitana, go through the tunnel, then before passing the bridge, there is a path which leads up the valley. At a crossing you take the direction to Praiano. When you reach the village center with the church go in western direction then you reach a street, follow it. At the next crossing you see an indication to San Domenico, follow it till the end of the road,  where you can already see the monastery and the path leading there. The path is well maintained. More info about the church of the monastery  Santa Maria di Castro.
Looking at the photos you will recognize that we love to go there to watch sunset, but its also very worthwhile to go there at other times of the day  as long as the weather is beautiful.
Photos:

Before sunset	View from the terrace	Inside San Domenico

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La Madonnina - Fiordo di Furore - Sant Elia - Marina di Praia- La Madonnina

Nice walk with beautiful views down to the sea and up to the mountains.  This takes about  2-3 hours. The highest point is about 250 m (about 750 feet) above sea level.
What we do most of the time is to start at about 11 am from the villa then we reach Marina di Praia its lunchtime. We take then there our well deserved lunch in one of our favorite restaurants. (see my favorite restaurants). After leaving Sant Elia the path gets a bit rough. I don't think its dangerous but the path is narrow and at one or two passages you may need the support of your hands. If you want to avoid this you may return after having reached Sant Elia.
Description: At the gate you turn right and walk along the street till you reach Fiordo di Furore (the ancient port of Furore - a  village up in the mountain).  You take the path  which starts at the western side of the bridge and which leads you up to the church of Sant Elia.  If you feel you deserve already a drink you can do it in the 5 star Furore Inn Hotel which was recently opened with swimming pool, SPA.
Continue your walk level towards west. You see the indication Sentiero del agave in fiori (path of the Agave in flowers). The 2 hours to Marina di Praia indicated there are largely exaggerated. Soon you will see the a plate with a nice poem. I liked it very much therefore I want to give you an idea what it says by translating the beginning of the poem. Now good knowledge of English would really be helpful. So I am sorry but still I hope you get the sense what the poem wants to tell us.
Here where time seems to have become to a standstill
To give the mortals the gift of being immortal,
here where rumors are felt like imperfection of silence
........
From there the path follows the terraces which were used to be cultivated. You walk towards the valley, cross it  and on the other side of the valley you pass a lonely farm house without access to the street. Below the farmhouse you take the path down to Marina di Praia. Its well indicated with a sign. If you would continue the path you would reach Praiano. When you reach the Amalfitana go either down to the restaurants or follow the road to return to the Villa.
Photos:

Fiordo	View to Praiano	Farmhouse
Cactus	View down to the sea	Amalfi coast toward west
The valley and mountains	The path on the other side of the valley	Flowers
Marina di Praia	Look back to the lonely farmhouse

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La Madonnina - Praiano - Colle la Serra - Nocelle (in the upper part it is the famous "sentiero degli dei")

This hike is definitely the most spectacular hike of the whole peninsula of Sorrent. From Nocelle to Colle la Serra or vice versa it follows the it follows the famous "Sentiero degli Dei" - the walk of Gods. Not exaggerated, its really spectacular. Wonderful views down to the always present sea including the isle of Capri on the horizon. From Praiano you also have a view in the other direction to the eastern part of the peninsula. You pass fantastic rock formations, see old traces of farming.
Description: The "normal" way to walk the Sentiero degli Dei is starting from Agerola/Bomerano then you go to Colle la Serra, then to Nocelle or further to Montepertuso and Positano. You find a good description in the Tippet guide.  To walk this trail you to go to Agerola/Bomerano. To go there by bus (buy tickets before in a bar)  you go to the bus stop in Marina di Praia. You turn left when you leave the exit of the villa, walk about 400 m (1200 ft) directly after the tunnel is the bus stop. Take the bus in the direction of Amalfi/Salerno. Tell the bus driver that you want to go to Agerola as you have to change the bus before Amalfi. At the end of the walk in Nocelle or Montepertuso or Positano you take a bus back to Praiano.  This however is quite cumbersome.
Therefore we prefer either to walk from the villa to Nocelle or further to Positano and then take the bus back to Praiano or start from Positano/Nocelle and walk down to the villa.  For the first alternative you better have a reasonable good physical condition as you have to climb about 580 m (1700 ft) altitude.  Partially the path is quite steep. In the other direction -assuming you start in Nocelle-  the path is till Colle la Serra mostly flat and then goes down the same altitude.  Check the bus connections by reading the bus timetable or calling the Praiano tourist office (see info section). There are frequent connections between Positano and Praiano but only few from Positano to Montepertuso and less to Nocelle. To go from the villa to the bus stop you turn left at the exit of the villa and then immediately after the tunnel (about 400 m, 1200 ft) there is the bus stop. If its a blue SITA bus you must buy the tickets before in a bar, if its the local bus you pay in the bus. Tell the bus driver that you want to go to Montepertuso. He will tell you when you exit the bus (in Positano) and take the next one  to Montepertuso or Nocelle.  In Nocelle there is a bar/restaurant with a wonderful view down to Positano. The food is o.k. but not  terrific. Then you follow the description for the Sentiero degli Dei in Tippets guide  till  you  reach Colle la Serra. There you leave the Sentiero degli Dei trail and follow the path down to Praiano. See also Tippets guide. As an alternative you can also choose to descend to the monastery San Domenico, which you see below. The path starts before you reach Colle la Serra, is not marked and sometimes a bid rough. If you are not an experienced hiker I would not recommend it. But its a nice alternative. In any case you have spectacular views and arrive at the road in Praiano. There you walk towards the east and down to reach finally the villa. It takes about 3-4 hours from Nocelle to the villa and a bid more the other direction. Good hikers can of course walk to Nocelle and go back to the villa, or start in Positano, its always beautiful. If you start from the villa, turn left at the exit, then walk through the tunnel and then just before the bridge take the path which starts there and leads you to Praiano. In the village walk higher till you reach the highest street. Better take the plan of Praiano with you which you find in the villa. The path which leads up to Colle la Serra starts from the highest street. The path starts with a stair which goes through a building then through olive gardens up the hill. See description in Tippets guide: Praiano to Colle la Serra. For the start/finish in Positano there are different alternatives, see the Tippet guide. 
Photos: See 62 more photos in my  web gallery. 

Montepertuso	Montepertuso	View up the mountain
Stalactites	Positano	Ravine
Nocelle	Nocelle	Before sunset
Old lonely farmhouse	Sunset in the mountains	Curved rock
Praiano and the monastery San Domenico on the left	View to the east	Old vineyard

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