Nerano is a hamlet in the comune of Massa Lubrense, between Ieranto Bay and the village of Torca. A church, a bar, a small grocery, one or two shops. Nothing else.
It is not a destination. It is the village you pass through on the way down to Marina del Cantone, or on the way to Ieranto Bay, where the path begins beside the church. Knowing this spares you the disappointment of arriving in search of a picturesque town. And the pasta was not invented here — it was invented on the beach below.
Spaghetti alla Nerano carries the name of the village around the world. But it was not invented here. It was invented at the Maria Grazia restaurant on the beach at Marina del Cantone, below the village, in the 1950s. The dish travelled; the village stayed the size it has always been.
Spaghetti alla Nerano: where it really comes from →In high season, parking at Nerano is not difficult — it is impossible. Arrive early, or take the bus. Times and opening hours differ between car parks and change with the season; check them locally.
About 40 minutes from Sorrento, or 20 from Sant'Agata. There is a public car park near the village with very few spaces, plus blue-line bays along the road that fill early. In high season it is not difficult — it is impossible.
The SITA Sud bus runs from Sorrento and from Sant'Agata and stops at Nerano. Slow and infrequent, but the sane way to arrive in summer, when there is nowhere to leave a car.
Continuing down toward Marina del Cantone there are other car parks along the road, including the Venione, with opening hours that differ from one to the next and must be checked locally.
Tourists are constantly seen walking down the road to Marina del Cantone. It is narrow, steep, without a pavement, and shared with cars and scooters. Do not do it. Arrive early, or take the SITA bus from Sorrento or Sant'Agata, which stops at Nerano.
The village bar is also an art gallery, kept by an elderly man of the village, Signor Franco. The walls and tables hold objects recovered from the sea and turned into art, following a personal philosophy he has worked out over the years. We will not explain it here. Ask him — it is the reason to stop.
Massa Lubrense →The old parish church stands in the piazzetta, recorded as early as the fifteenth century and raised to a parish in 1613. Three cross-vaulted aisles, five altars, and a small chapel to Saint Philomena in the right transept. Sources also call it San Salvatore; the official dedication is Santissimo Salvatore.
The Ieranto path starts beside it →The path to Baia di Ieranto begins just beside the church — about an hour on foot, in the shadow of Punta Campanella and looking across to Capri. Booking is required for the free beach, managed by the Punta Campanella marine reserve.
Punta Campanella →Sources disagree, and Wikipedia says outright that the origin is uncertain. One story is Roman, the other Greek. Anyone who gives you only one has chosen.
From the emperor Tiberius Nero — a place named Neronianum. A Latin root, an imperial villa on the peninsula.
From a temple to the Nereids, the sea nymphs. An older, Hellenic root, out of the mythology of this coast.
Neither is proven. The origin is uncertain.
In the sixteenth century the fleet of the Ottoman admiral Piyale Paşa chose this stretch of coast for a raid: two thousand Turks came ashore. The sack of 1558 devastated the villages here; by some accounts fifteen hundred people were taken prisoner to Constantinople. For defence, in 1567, Bernardino Turbolo had a coastal tower built.
In 1963 a landslide badly damaged the hamlet. A village of one hundred and sixty families has been through all of this, and is still here.
Very little, and it is worth knowing. A fifteenth-century church, a bar that doubles as an art gallery, a grocery. Nerano is the village you cross on the way to Marina del Cantone or to the Ieranto trail.
One hundred and sixty-three resident families.
The public car park has very few spaces. In high season it is impossible. Take the SITA bus.
Beside the church of the Santissimo Salvatore, in the village.
Neither. The nearest cash machine is at Marina del Cantone, and there is only one.
Sources disagree. One derives it from the emperor Tiberius Nero, another from a temple to the Nereids. The origin is uncertain.
Not in the village. It was invented at the Maria Grazia restaurant on the beach at Marina del Cantone, below the village, in the 1950s.
No. It is on the Sorrento Peninsula.
Population figures come from census data and change. Parking fees and hours change every season and differ between car parks. Booking for the free beach at Ieranto is managed by the marine reserve. Check the official source before you go — these sources are in Italian only.