Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi is a hill village in the comune of Massa Lubrense, on the saddle that divides the Gulf of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno — at 390 metres above sea level.
The name promises two gulfs. The village itself shows you neither: it is compact — a square, a church — and the houses block the view. You see both gulfs from Il Deserto, a former convent on a rise just outside the center, about twenty minutes uphill on foot.
Il Deserto is an eighteenth-century monastic complex on a rise above the village, today a convent of the Benedictine Sisters. From the terrace you see both gulfs at the same time: to the north Naples, with Vesuvius and the islands; to the south the Gulf of Salerno, with the Lattari Mountains and the coast. It is the one point on the peninsula where the name becomes obvious — and it is worth the climb. Opening hours are limited and change: verify before you go.
Monte San Costanzo, the other high viewpoint →Everyone heading south passes through Sant'Agata, and the SITA network runs from here. Bus times change with the season and need checking on the day.
About twenty minutes from Sorrento along the Nastro Azzurro. From Nerano, twenty minutes uphill.
SITA buses from Sorrento to Sant'Agata are the backbone of transport in the southern peninsula. Connections for Termini, Nerano and Marina del Cantone leave from here. The timetable changes with the season — check before you travel.
If you don't have a car and you want to move between the trails and the beaches, Sant'Agata is the right base. From the square, the climb up to Il Deserto for the view takes about twenty minutes.
An eighteenth-century monastic complex on a rise above the village, today a convent of the Benedictine Sisters. From the terrace you see both gulfs at once — the reason to make the climb. Opening hours are limited and change: verify before you go.
Monte San Costanzo →A calm center — a square and the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, which holds a seventeenth-century altar of polychrome marble, mother-of-pearl and hard stones, brought from the Girolamini fathers in Naples and bought in 1845 by the parish priest G.B. Casola. Its maker is uncertain: usually attributed to Dionisio Lazzari, though some sources credit Arcangelo Guglielmelli and Antonio Fontana. Sant'Agata also carries a gastronomic tradition surprising for so small a place: Don Alfonso 1890 was born here.
Where to eat on the coast →Punta Campanella and Termini to the west; Nerano and Marina del Cantone down toward the Gulf of Salerno; Massa Lubrense and the Marina della Lobra to the north; Monte San Costanzo, with its chapel of 1560.
Punta Campanella →Il Deserto keeps limited hours that change with the season, and the belvedere may not always be open to the public. SITA bus times shift too. Check the official source before you set out, and do not rely on this page for opening hours.
Anyone heading to Nerano passes through. Anyone bound for Termini and Punta Campanella passes through. Anyone dropping down to Massa Lubrense passes through. It is the village you cross by car, watching the clock.
Stop, and you find a calm center, a church, and a base for getting around by bus that beats any resort on the coast.
Not from the village center. From the Il Deserto belvedere, a former convent on a rise reachable on foot in about twenty minutes.
About twenty minutes by car.
If you're after monuments, no. If you want the one spot where you see Naples and Salerno at the same time, yes. And it is an excellent base for getting around by bus.
Yes, with limited hours that change. Check with the convent.
No. It is on the Sorrento Peninsula, in the comune of Massa Lubrense.
Twenty minutes downhill by car, or by SITA bus.
Opening hours for Il Deserto and SITA bus schedules change with the season — always check the official source before you set out. The village sits at 390 metres above sea level (Wikipedia). The altar in Santa Maria delle Grazie is confirmed as seventeenth-century, of polychrome marble, mother-of-pearl and hard stones, from the Girolamini in Naples; only its maker stays disputed, attributed to Dionisio Lazzari or to Arcangelo Guglielmelli and Antonio Fontana.