The climate is the one of the high hills, slightly continental, if we stay on top of Mount Epomeo, the peak of the island (788 meters),
Arrival point of an excursion among the most beautiful in Campania, steep gullies, heroic gardens and vineyards, woods and clearings are the typical aspects of the territory. It is divided in the two main hamlets of Serrara and Fontana, and it dotted with villages with a clear Greek imprint where examples of a mixed-Hellenic dialect still in use survive. Then, on the sea, the spur of Sant’Angelo, the pedestrian oasis with a small port frequented by VIPs and yachtmen of all nationalities, its stairways and alleys: it is a place of the heart, in all senses, and it is the main touristic centre of the Municipality, also for its geographical characteristics steeped in history linked to the events of the high isthmus of 106 meters, which reaches the village with a strip of sand of 119 meters long. There was mini monastery up there. Then, a lookout tower was built, of which we still see the lower part and which was destroyed by the British cannon fire of 1809.
Towards Succhivo and the inland areas, we can see the church of the Madonna di Montevergine, founded in 1684 by the Mattera family. In the 18th century, for a few years, it was guarded by a hermit. In Serrara, the traditional stop is the one around the balcony that opens up to the marine and coastal panorama that dominates the Sant’Angelo isthmus, and overlooks the pontine islands to the west and Capri, to the south-east. Nearby there is the parish church of Maria SS. del Carmine: it has two naves. The one on the right is the ancient chapel of San Pasquale, founded by Natale Iacono in 1733. Today it constitutes the chapel of San Vincenzo Ferreri (his cult here is strongly noticed), whose image obviously dominates the altar. Proceeding uphill towards Fontana, halfway, there is the village of Kalimera (from the greek: “beautiful day”) and, not far, the Noia one, another name of very clear Greek etymology (it apparently means “high place - upper land”), which it hides behind the site of a very old residential area. In this area, it has to be said, a considerable amount of fictile finds have been found dating from the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AC. Fontana is and ancient medieval village already mentioned in the Angevin Registers and in a marble monument of 1374 of bishop Bussolaro, coming from the factories and built in Noia. From this point, the emotion is multiplied by looking at the top of the Epomeo with the hermitage of San Nicola, reachable between itineraries of phenomenal beauty on foot or by mule. The peak is a huge boulder of green tuff in which the places of the former hermitage are excavated as well as the small church dedicated to San Nicola of Bari. They date back to the 15th century, but they had a period of great fervor from the 18th century, when famous hermits stayed there, such as Giorgio il Bavaro and the governor of the island Joseph d’Arguth of Flemish origins: they stayed here until the Second World War.
