Bosco della Maddalena (Maddalena Wood)

What is the Bosco della Maddalena?

Behind the Castiglione coastal strip, less than a kilometre from the centre of Casamicciola Terme, the landscape changes suddenly: instead of hotels and spa establishments, a mantle of pines and holm oaks rises to around 300 metres above sea level. This is the Bosco della Maddalena (Maddalena Wood), the woodland that clothes the slopes of Monte Rotaro, on the boundary between the municipalities of Casamicciola Terme, Ischia and Barano d'Ischia. Popular sources put its area at around 45 hectares (450,000 square metres).

The wood has appeared several times in the FAI's “I Luoghi del Cuore” (Places of the Heart) census, run by Italy's National Trust, a sign of the affection islanders and visitors feel for this green lung on the island's northern side.

A wood on a volcano

Beneath the trees lies a volcano. According to INGV's Vesuvius Observatory, the Rotaro is a polygenetic centre that grew over the last ten thousand years through at least nine eruptions, both explosive and effusive. One of its phases produced a lava dome right in the area of the Bosco della Maddalena; later Strombolian activity partly demolished it, opening the Fondo d'Oglio crater, the wooded hollow you can visit along the trails. The pyroclastic deposits that bear the wood's name are exposed mainly inside the crater.

The heat of the earth has not entirely disappeared: along the paths you will come across the Monte Rotaro fumaroles, small emissions of hot steam that bear witness to the island's active hydrothermal system, the same one that feeds Casamicciola's thermal springs.

Pine woods, holm oaks and the fumarole papyrus

The wood has two souls. The first is the pine wood, the result of reforestation carried out by Italy's State Forestry Corps between the 1930s and 1950s on volcanic hills that had until then been bare. The second is the holm oak wood, more natural, with small groves of oaks and chestnuts. The undergrowth is home to typical Mediterranean scrub species: strawberry tree, mastic, myrtle, heather, rock rose, broom, honeysuckle, bramble and bracken. In autumn, after the first rains, mushrooms appear.

The most curious plant lives beside the fumaroles: the so-called “fumarole papyrus” (Cyperus polystachyos), a plant of tropical and subtropical origin that on Ischia finds a suitable environment for survival in the warm, humid microclimate of the volcanic emissions. In the Fondo d'Oglio crater, sources also report rare ferns and, in the centre of the hollow, a hop hornbeam that local tradition surrounds with legends.

How to get there

The wood has two main entrances, both reachable by road:

• Castiglione entrance: from the SS270 main road, in the Castiglione area, turn into Via Bosco della Maddalena, just after the Castiglione Thermal Park if you are coming from Ischia Porto. Parking space is limited.
• Fondo d'Oglio entrance: from Piazza Marina, climb via Corso Luigi Manzi, Via Monte della Misericordia and Via Cretaio to the rim of the crater, in the upper part of the wood.

The bus routes running along the coast road between Ischia Porto and Casamicciola stop near the Castiglione entrance. Access to the wood is free.

Trails and what to see

The best-known route is the Maddalena Trail, which climbs from the wood to Monte Rotaro, skirts the Fondo d'Oglio crater and continues to the Fiaiano pine wood, in the municipality of Barano. For a shorter visit, simply walk up from the Castiglione entrance to the crater rim: from the highest part of the pine wood the view reaches the port of Ischia and the Aragonese Castle. If you want to carry on east, you can reach the Montagnone along the Fondo d'Oglio trail.

Tips for your visit

The trails are mostly easy but have some climbs and uneven ground: hiking shoes are a must. There are no drinking fountains along the way, so bring enough water. Spring and autumn are the most pleasant seasons; in summer it is best to walk in the cooler hours. Stay on the trails and do not get too close to the fumaroles, where the ground can be hot and unstable.