Palaces, alleys, districts, monuments such as the Towers, and architectural glimpses give Forio a unique identity.
Retreat for many artists and intellectuals coming from all over the world, from W. H. Auden to Visconti, from Moravia to Capote, from Walton to many others, the largest municipal area of the island was considered for decades like a multilingual salon which had its “centre of fatal attraction” among the tables of the legendary Maria’s “Bar Internazionale”. Geographically, it slides from Mount Epomeo to the coastal sands and wedges itself into an intertwining of neighborhoods with their worship places. There are several secrets to discover, starting from the Luca Balsofiore square with the Church of San Gaetano, which has the typical facade of local churches and the dome characterising the panorama. A few meters away, there is a real art gallery: the Pontifical Basilica of Santa Maria of Loreto which, with the adjoining ancient hospital and the oratory of the Assumption, belongs to the Archconfraternity of Santa Maria di Loreto. Considered the centre of the Marian spirituality, according to tradition, it originated in the 14th century. Over the centuries it has been the centre of an intense charitable activity which was carried out throughfroms of assistance and with the management of the hospital founded in 1596. The special veneration is addressed to the Virgin of Loreto whose icon is located ad the end of the apse on a marble throne.
From the streets of shopping and of the evening stroll, we walk towards the promontory of the Soccorso. On the Town Hall square there are two churches: San Francesco di Assisi, with the ancient convent recently restored and the Archconfraternity of Santa Maria Visitapoveri. In the cloister of the convent, there are the remains of paintings representing episodes from Saint Francis’ life and his first disciples, the work of the the Neapolitan painter Filippo Baldi. The confraternity and the church were founded around 1614 and they constituted the centre of an intense spiritual and cult activity towards the Madonna delle Grazie. The architecture has its own characteristic in the double facade: the one of the church and the one that closes the courtyard. The church has a “summa” by the painter Alfonso Di Spigna. Few steps towards the sea, and here is the Church of the Soccorso, dedicated to Santa Maria of the Snow, one of the most beautiful postcards in Italy, due to its typical facade. The churchyard, part of the side walls, are covered with ornamental maiolica, scenes of the passion of Jesus and different saints, which date back to the 18th century.
On the hillside, there are glimpses of rare charm and still important religious temples due to their historical and cultural characteristics. Such as the mother Church of the village dedicated to the patron saint San Vito, raised to the title of Pontifical Basilica. It has ancient origins: a document from 1306 claim to Forio inhabitants the right of patronage over the church that they had already held since the previous times. The most important work kept is the statue of San Vito, in silver and gilded copper from 1787, a work by the Neapolitan goldsmiths Del Giudice, based on a sketch by the sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino.
Via Gaetano Morgera, formerly Via Cierco, houses the Church of San Carlo Borromeo, an architectural masterpiece built by the Sportiello brothers in 1620. The church is a Latin cross with only one nave and is singular for the use of local green tuff, usual building material for houses, here used for the external portal, the arches, the cornice; the pillars, the bases of the pilasters and the covering of some chapels that have a half shell valve created with only one block of tuff. Wonderful. All the pictorial works are by the painter from Forio Cesare Calise. SWithout forgetting the importance of the hamlet of Monterone, and of the panoramic area of San Francesco, on the other side, you cannot escape the climbing that almost leads to the slopes of the Epomeo. Here, at over four hundred meters above sea level, there is the Church of Santa Maria al Monte, founded by the Sportiello family in 1596: it is exactly at the height of the immerse path in an ideal habitat for those who love trekking. From this strategic starting point,, you can choose between an excursion to the Frassitelli, the land of white wine, or head to the Bianchetto, to reach the wood of the Falanga, an oasis of scrub and chestnut trees, mysterious and enveloping, with its stone houses, cellars and ancient shelters of the farmers pioneers of the area, among which the underground snow stores appear, recognisable by the tropical ferns that have taken root along the dry retaining walls. The scenerario is unique. From here, the road that leads to the summit Epomeo is a dream track. From above, you dominate the bays, such as the Citara one, with the theory of sandy shores up to Cava dell’Isola and beyond, from Chiaia to San Francesco; and, obviously, the peripheral residential areas, like the densely populated hamlet of Panza, a reference point for excursions to Sorgeto, a tiny marine and thermal bay (the hot springs flow between the rocks: the water of the springs is mixed with the sea water) and towards Sant’Angelo. In the centre of the hamlet, on the top of a flight of steps with a large courtyard, there is the parish church of San Leonardo Abate. Its existence is already documented from 1536.
Another important stop-over is Villa La Mortella, in the Zaro woods, also known as Walton Villa, with its wonderful garden, already considered the most beautiful park of Italy. Sir William Walton, great English musician, with his wife Susana, settled in 1956 in Ischia, and decided to build his abode with a magnificent garden in the volcanic area of Mount Zaro, dense of magnetism and suggestions. Projected by the landscape architect Russel Page, the garden houses over 3000 rare plants. Lady Susana moved from Argentina to Europe in 1948, the year in which she married William: both, together with the trio of the Sitwell brothers, participated in one of the most significant seasons of the English Twentieth century. The exotic garden, for that group, was the “summa” of the aesthetic thought, interpreted then by the genius of Page. The garden is progressive, and the microclimates constitute its secret, in a triumph of biology and technology. A large tropical greenhouse houses the largest water lily in the world, the Victoria Amazonica, with large flowers up to 40 centimeters wide and tray-leaves with a diameter of up to two and a half meters. Not far from the Mortella, still in the woods of Zaro, you can visit La Colombia, the suggestive villa with a noticeable garden owned by the great film and theater director Luchino Visconti, who decided to be buried here.
