Monte Rotaro

Where it is

Looking east from the centre of Casamicciola Terme you can make out a rounded, entirely wooded hill separating the town from the port of Ischia: this is Monte Rotaro. It lies between the Castiglione and Cretaio areas, on the boundary with the municipalities of Ischia and Barano, and is cloaked by the Bosco della Maddalena (Maddalena Wood), which climbs from the coast to around 300 metres above sea level.

A young volcano

For INGV's Vesuvius Observatory, the Rotaro is a polygenetic volcanic centre, built by several eruptions of different types: at least nine, both explosive and effusive, over the last ten thousand years. Over time the vent shifted northwards along a north-south structure that has been active for at least 8,500 years. The main phases reconstructed by INGV are:

1. The Puzzillo pumice cone, the oldest phase, with deposits dated to between about 8,500 and 6,200 years ago.
2. A lava dome in the area of the Bosco della Maddalena, whose lavas are exposed in the Fondo d'Oglio crater.
3. The Strombolian activity that partly demolished the dome and opened the Fondo d'Oglio crater, with its scoria clearly visible at the entrance.
4. A low-energy explosive eruption from a vent slightly to the north-west, whose products are known as the Bosco della Maddalena pyroclastics.
5. A small lava dome and, in the final phases, two lava flows that reached the sea to the north, near Punta La Scrofa.

The Rotaro belongs to the eastern part of the island, where most of the eruptive activity of the last ten thousand years has been concentrated, culminating in the eruption of the Arso in 1302, Ischia's last.

The name

Local guides derive the name Rotaro from the word “cratere” (crater) or from the place name Cretaio, linked to “clayey” soil. Popular sources also mention the presence of several craters, referred to as Rotaro I, II, III and IV.

Woods, fumaroles and views

Between the 1930s and 1950s Italy's State Forestry Corps reforested the volcano's slopes with pines, alongside holm oaks and chestnuts; inside the crater grow dense Mediterranean scrub, holm oaks and ferns. Along the trails you will come across the Monte Rotaro fumaroles, accompanied by the rare fumarole papyrus. From the highest part of the pine wood you can see the port of Ischia, the Aragonese Castle, Procida, Vivara and Capo Miseno.

How to get there

• From below: from the Castiglione entrance, on the coastal main road, walk up through the Bosco della Maddalena along the Maddalena Trail.
• From above: from the Belvedere in Casamicciola, follow the Cretaio road for about 2 km to a clearing closed to cars, which overlooks the crater.

Beyond the crater, paths laid out by the Forestry Corps lead down on foot towards Ischia Porto, while to the east the Fondo d'Oglio trail leads to the Montagnone.

Useful tips

You will need hiking shoes and water, as there are no drinking fountains in the wood. Stay on the trails, especially near the fumaroles, and do not light fires: in summer the pine wood is at risk of fire.