Things to do in Ravello
You can see the whole town on foot in a day. The trick is knowing when to go where — this is how we show it to our guests.
Ravello is small. From the cathedral square to Villa Cimbrone is a ten-minute walk, and nearly everything worth seeing sits in between: two villas with gardens hanging over the sea, the cathedral, a couple of churches that are hardly ever open, and viewpoints that take in the coast from Maiori to Capo d'Orso.
What makes the difference isn't what you see but when. From mid-morning to mid-afternoon the day-trip groups come up from Amalfi and Positano and the villas fill up. Before and after that, Ravello goes back to being a quiet hill town. Below are the stops in the order I'd suggest, with walking distances from our house on Via Lacco.
- Belvedere Principessa di Piemonte
- 500 m on foot
- Cathedral
- 650 m on foot
- Villa Rufolo
- 700 m on foot
- Villa Cimbrone
- 1 km on foot
Cover photo: Istvánka, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Villa Rufolo, Wagner's garden
You go in through a tower on the cathedral square and two minutes later you're in another century. The Rufolos were Ravello's wealthiest bankers in the 1200s — rich enough that Boccaccio put one of them, Landolfo, into a story in the Decameron. What's left of their palace is the main tower and a cloister with interlaced, Arab-style arches. Take your time there: it's the part the tour groups rush through.
The terraced garden is the work of a Scotsman, Francis Nevile Reid, who bought the crumbling villa in 1851. In 1880 Richard Wagner came by and said he had found the magic garden of Klingsor from his Parsifal. That's where the Ravello Festival comes from: in summer a stage goes up on the terrace and seems to float above the sea. If you're here in July or August, a concert up there is worth the trip on its own.
Opening hours and tickets change with the season — check the official Villa Rufolo website. The concert programme is on ravellofestival.com.
Photo: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Villa Cimbrone and the Terrace of Infinity
You get there on foot — no cars, just lanes and a few steps, past the church of San Francesco. It's a lovely fifteen-minute walk in itself. The villa is a hotel now, but the gardens are open every day to anyone with a ticket. An English lord, Ernest Beckett, laid them out the way they are in the early 1900s, and you can tell: lawns, rose beds, statues and a long straight avenue, the Viale dell'Immenso, that ends at the most famous spot in Ravello.
The Terrace of Infinity is a balustrade lined with marble busts, hanging over a drop of more than three hundred metres to the sea. The name isn't an exaggeration. Go as soon as the gardens open: with the terrace to yourself and the morning light on the gulf, you'll understand why it's the first thing our guests tell us about when they get back.
Hours and tickets: official Villa Cimbrone website (check before you go).
The cathedral and Piazza Vescovado
The square is Ravello's living room: a coffee facing the white front of the cathedral is the right way to start or end the day. The bronze door, from 1179, is by Barisano da Trani — get close and look at the panels one by one. Inside there are two pulpits: a mosaic one telling the story of Jonah and the whale, and the great pulpit of 1272, donated by — who else — a Rufolo.
The chapel on the left keeps the phial with the blood of Saint Pantaleon, the town's patron: every year around 27 July the feast fills Ravello with lights and fireworks. Under the church there's a small museum, and just off the square the Coral Museum, a private collection of cameos and carved coral that always surprises people who wander in expecting nothing much.
At certain times entry to the church is free; in the middle of the day in season you go in through the museum. Current hours are on the cathedral website.
What the day tours skip
San Giovanni del Toro and Santa Maria a Gradillo
Two small Romanesque churches, often closed — go in whenever you find them open. San Giovanni del Toro, in the upper part of town, dates from the 11th century and has a pulpit of mosaics and ceramics that is worth the climb by itself. Santa Maria a Gradillo is a minute from the square: bare stone, arches, silence.
The Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium
The white curve you see below the main road is the auditorium designed by Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 2010, when the Brazilian architect was over a hundred years old. It's his only public building in Italy. Ravello argued about it for years; today the square in front of it is one of the best places to look out over the sea.
The Principessa di Piemonte viewpoint
It's five minutes from our house and free: a public garden with benches and a view over the bay of Maiori and Minori. We send guests there on the evening they arrive, before dinner. There's nothing to do but sit down, which is exactly the point.
Walking down to the sea
Old stairways lead down from Ravello through the lemon groves to Minori and to Atrani: lovely on the way down, but take the bus back up. I cover them in the guide to the beaches near Ravello; for Amalfi, Positano and Capri see our page on the Amalfi Coast.
Four tips from someone who lives here
- Villa Cimbrone as soon as it opens, Villa Rufolo late in the afternoon: you'll get the best light and half the crowds.
- Between noon and three the centre is full of groups. That's the time to head home, have lunch on the balcony and go out again around four.
- Wear proper shoes, not sandals: Ravello is all steps and paving stones, and the walk to Cimbrone has some uphill stretches.
- Stay at least one night. In the evening, once the last bus heads down to Amalfi, the square goes back to the locals — it's the best time of day.
Things to do in Ravello: what guests ask us
How much time do you need to see Ravello?
One day is enough for Villa Rufolo, Villa Cimbrone, the cathedral and the viewpoint. It's better, though, to split it into two half-days — early morning and late afternoon — and skip the middle of the day when the tour groups arrive.
Villa Rufolo or Villa Cimbrone: which one if I'm short on time?
If you only have time for one, choose Villa Cimbrone for the Terrace of Infinity and the larger gardens; choose Villa Rufolo if you're into history and music, and it's right on the square. In a day you can easily see both.
Can you get around Ravello on foot?
Yes. The centre is small and pedestrian: from the cathedral square to Villa Cimbrone is about a ten-minute walk. There are plenty of steps and a few climbs, so comfortable shoes are a must.
How do you get to Ravello without a car?
By SITA bus from Amalfi, about twenty-five minutes. Buy tickets before boarding, at a tobacconist or a café. All the connections are on our How to reach us page.
When is the best time to visit Ravello?
Spring and autumn, when it's cooler and there are fewer groups. In summer go out early in the morning; in July and August the Ravello Festival holds concerts at Villa Rufolo.
Ravello is at its best once the tours have gone
Our holiday apartment is in the historic centre, a few minutes' walk from the square and the villas: in the morning you're first in at Cimbrone, and in the evening you walk home without catching a bus.