We suggest that you set out early in the morning, the fresh air and the scent of the woods if awakening, will make the climb less hard and will also avoid some of the heat that will be a faithful ifunwanted companion on the route…

Take via Nuova Chiunzi and after a short distance on a slight incline, the bell tower of the Madonna della Libera ( That holds an eighteenth century Madonna col Bambino between SS.Gregorio Magno and Carlo Borromeo) from via Casa Imperato, take via Lama and via S.Vito until the road becomes a mountain pathway…

We begin to gain height…
After an hour and a half, at about half way, we reach S.Maria (or S.Marina, the ancient farm of the monastery): getting our breath back, we lift our eyes and see the Sanctuary …and the steepest part of our climb…

Another quarter of an hour and we arrive at the "Acqua o'Castagne" ( the Chestnut Spring) where we can enjoy the refreshing spring. At this point there is a crossroad, we choose the straight road, slightly longer but much easier, those who wish to risk the other road will find themselves at the summit with a quarter of an hour of anticipation…

Passing through the "fullichito", a wood of ferns, follow the rocky walls that uphold the Sanctuary to arrive at the "Grotta delle Soppressate" ( grotto of the salami) so called from the stalactites that hang down and look like tasty salami…

Now at 900m on Monte Mirteto we have arrived…

Santuario dell'Avvocata

There are several structures:

The monastery:
Originally in the first half of the '500s there were only a few cells, that were later amplified for the increasing number of friars. In 1663 it was entrusted to the Camaldolesi Fathers and functioned until 1807 when the abolition laws were imposed and it was abandoned. Stripped of the Sacred furnishings and the well-stocked library, the hermitage was used as a military outpost..

The small church:
Also built in the early '500's , in 1838 it was devastated by a violent fire. Today you can see the ruins on the side of the plateau, the actual church was built at the beginning of this century…

Lastly the "Grotta dell'Apparizione":
under the church, it can only be reached by steep steps on the side of the plateau. Its story begins in the early '500's when a local shepherd, Gabriello Cinnamo, discovered it, guided it is said by a mystic dove. While he rested in the entrance the Virgin appeared to him and commanded him to built an altar: in exchange she would be his Avvocata ( barrister). Cinnamo built the altar and the church, that became the first monastery and he became a hermit.
Abandoned with the church in 1888, the altar was restored by a devout local bricklayer and four years later the cult was revived.

Protected by a decorative wrought iron fence, the small chapel is frescoed on the frontal and under the vault with " La cena degli Apostoli", surrounded by Angels, on the altar is the "Il sogno di Gabriele Cinnamo".

On the Monday of Pentecost , people come from all along the coast and especially from Cava dei Tirreni, and the Monte Falerzio becomes alive with streams of pilgrims.

The ringing of bells is continuous ( because it is the custom for each pilgrim to ring them a few times), at mid-day a procession with the statue of the Madonna who has rose-petals thrown at Her feet along the entire route.
The festa continues until late afternoon with singing and dancing and the ancient "tammoriate" (folk songs).

Along the plateau a narrow pathway leads to the belvedere, on the route the Turkish baths of the monks, later to become "Grotta di Matteo Salese", the terrible brigand who hid there and who on being surrounded by gendarmes preferred to throw himself into empty space rather than be captured…

On arrival at the belvedere we advise you sit for awhile, as the height and the beauty can take your breath away and give a sense of vertigo. After a few minutes you forget the hard work to arrive here and lose track of time. At the highest point on the gulf your gaze will hardly be able to take in the immense horizon: from Punta della Licosa to Punta Campanella and Capri…laid at your feet the entire coast of Amalfi…