Valle delle Ferriere Nature Reserve
Just 3 kilometres inland from Amalfi town, the Valle delle Ferriere is a UNESCO-listed gorge where ferns the height of a person, ancient paper mills and a genuine waterfall feel impossibly remote from the tourist bustle below. This is the Amalfi Coast that most visitors never see.
The Trail
The main trail starts at the top of Amalfi's Via Lorenzo d'Amalfi and climbs steadily through lemon groves before entering the cool, dripping canyon. The full round-trip to the upper waterfall — Cascata delle Ferriere — is about 8 kilometres and takes 3–4 hours at a relaxed pace with stops.
The reserve protects Woodwardia radicans, a giant fern species that survived the last Ice Age and now grows only in a handful of spots on earth, all of them in the Mediterranean. Seeing two-metre fronds arching over a clear stream is genuinely surreal.
History in the Gorge
The valley takes its name from iron foundries (ferriere) that operated here in the medieval period, later replaced by the paper mills that made Amalfi's handmade carta bambagina famous across Europe. Several ruined mill buildings still stand along the path, their waterwheel channels still channelling the stream.
The Museo della Carta in Amalfi town (€4, Via delle Cartiere 23) pairs perfectly with this walk — see working 13th-century paper presses before heading up to the valley where the raw water power came from.
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