Driving from Furore on the Amalfi Coast to Agerola in the Lattari Mountains

While driving the Via Amalfitano has its motoring excitements as well as its famously spectacular views,

it little compares to the road through Furore for adrenaline-inducing narrow turns (especially exciting when encountering an oncoming bus, which can sometimes require a line of traffic to back partway down the mountain).

You can reach the Costa Amalfitano by way of Sorrento in the north, from which you will arrive at Positano, or from Salerno in the south, which will lead to Amalfi. But there is a less-used (by foreigners) third way, which cuts over the Lattari mountain range, through a tunnel at the top connecting Gragnano and Agerola.

Agerola is a rustic complex of hamlets where one sometimes finds oneself delayed by herds of goats swarming the roadways.

We took a vacation rental in Agerola – it afforded a panoramic view of the valley clear down to the drop-off to the sea. At that point the road plummets to the sea by way of innumerable sharp turns. As a consequence of our location in Agerola we traveled it a number of times.

In the map below, the hairpins switchbacks of this road – a true engineering marvel, with very welcome stone walls on the seaward side – are represented by the intestine-shaped tangle in the middle. Unfortunately, the memory card in my camera got filled up before we reached the most thrilling section of the road; still, this video of the beginning of the uphill climb might give a taste of what it is like to drive this remarkable road.