Not a beach and not a stop on any itinerary: three private islets you watch from the shore. Since antiquity these rocks have been the Sirenuse — the Sirens' islands of the Odyssey.
They sit in the Gulf of Salerno, off Positano, and are visible from almost every trail on the peninsula. You cannot land: they are privately owned, inside the Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area.
In the Odyssey the Sirens live on an island where sailors are wrecked by their song. They were not mermaids: they had women's faces and the bodies of birds, daughters of the river god Achelous.
Ancient tradition placed them here and called these rocks the Sirenuse. Odysseus passed tied to the mast, his crew's ears stopped with wax. The Sirens, defeated, threw themselves into the sea.
From Punta Campanella — where the Greeks built a temple to Athena, the goddess who protected Odysseus — Li Galli are clearly visible. For once, the geography of the myth holds: the temple faces the islands.
The Path of the Gods takes its name from the same story. The gods came down that way to reach the Sirens.
The largest, shaped like a dolphin and the only inhabited one. It carries Roman remains, a medieval watchtower (Angevin, not Aragonese as often said) and a villa.
Smaller and empty.
Smaller and empty.
In the twentieth century Gallo Lungo had two famous owners. The choreographer Léonide Massine bought the islands in the early 1920s — 1922 by English sources, 1924 by Italian ones — and built a villa on the Roman ruins, reportedly with design advice from Le Corbusier, turning the old tower into a dance studio. In 1988–89 they passed to the dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who kept them until his death in 1993. The tower itself is older than its usual name suggests: raised around 1312 under the Angevin king Charles II of Naples on the remains of a Roman tower, it is Angevin, not the "Aragonese" of common repute. It remains private: no landing, no mooring, no visits.
Along the whole southern side of the peninsula the islets are in view. These are the surest vantage points.
Throughout the central traverse. The path takes its name from the same story — the gods came down that way to reach the Sirens.
Looking east, where the Greeks built a temple to Athena. For once the geography of the myth holds: the temple faces the islands.
Where the islets appear alongside the islet of Isca.
On the horizon. In summer boats pass offshore, and the dolphin shape of Gallo Lungo is unmistakable.
Li Galli, three islets in the Gulf of Salerno off Positano, identified since antiquity with the Sirenuse of the Odyssey.
No. They are private property inside the Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area. Landing is not permitted.
Three: Gallo Lungo, La Rotonda and Il Castelluccio.
Because in Greek tradition the Sirens had the bodies of birds. The modern name preserves that memory.
In the twentieth century, the choreographer Léonide Massine and later the dancer Rudolf Nureyev.
From the Path of the Gods, from Punta Campanella, and from the coastal path to Recommone.
No. In Greek tradition they had women’s faces and the bodies of birds. The fish-tailed siren is a medieval image.
Navigation rules inside the marine protected area change. Before approaching by boat, check with the Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area. Their site is in Italian.