Ischia

Ischia is the big, green island of the Gulf of Naples — volcanic in origin, threaded with hot springs, and layered with three thousand years of history. Where Capri burns bright with glamour, Ischia spreads its pleasures wider: a fortress on its own islet, subtropical gardens, thermal pools at the water’s edge, and the earliest Greek colony in the western Mediterranean.

Why visit

Ischia suits travellers who want an island holiday with substance. Geologically it is a living landscape — shaped by an ancient caldera and by eruptions whose last lava flow reached the sea in 1302 — and that same volcanic energy surfaces today in the thermal springs that made the island famous. History runs even deeper: at Lacco Ameno, excavations revealed Pithecusae, the Euboean Greek settlement of the eighth century BC that anchors the story of Greek colonisation of the West. Between those poles, the island offers a castle with twenty-five centuries of story on its own rock, gardens where tropical and Mediterranean plants argue beautifully with each other, hill villages under Monte Epomeo, and beaches of every temperament. Ferries from Naples dock at two ports, and the island’s six municipalities — Ischia, Forio, Lacco Ameno, Casamicciola Terme, Serrara Fontana and Barano d’Ischia — each keep a distinct character, so a week here can still leave places unseen.

Character and history

Everything on Ischia begins with fire and ends with hospitality. The island’s volcanic heart lifted Monte Epomeo, a green tuff massif at the centre, and left fumaroles and hot springs along the coasts that the Romans already exploited. Around the eighth century BC, settlers from Euboea founded Pithecusae here — the first Greek colony in the western Mediterranean, according to the mainstream reading of the evidence — and among the grave goods recovered was the celebrated “Nestor’s Cup”, a scratched drinking cup that is one of the oldest decipherable inscriptions of the Greek alphabet. Later centuries brought Aragonese fortification, when in the fifteenth century Alfonso V connected the castle islet to the island with a stone causeway; earthquakes shaped the island too, devastating Casamicciola in 1883. Modern tourism arrived with the spa culture of the 1950s, and with the film producer Angelo Rizzoli, who turned Lacco Ameno into a resort and is honoured in the island’s archaeology museum. Today Ischia balances six million annual visits with an economy of vineyards, fishing and spa craft.

What to see

Start with the Aragonese Castle, standing on a volcanic islet joined to Ischia Ponte by the stone causeway: inside its walls are a cathedral with a crypt of nobles, a convent, the haunting Nuns’ Cemetery, terraces suspended over the sea, and venues for the island’s summer film festival. In Forio, the La Mortella Gardens were created from a ravine by Susana Walton, wife of the composer Sir William Walton, who built their home here; today the terraces hold rare subtropical plantings and a recital hall that keeps their musical legacy alive. At Lacco Ameno, the Archaeological Museum of Pithecusae occupies the eighteenth-century Villa Arbusto and tells the Greek-settlement story, including the Nestor’s Cup — though individual pieces travel to exhibitions, so check what is on display. Finally, out on its white promontory in Forio, the Church of Santa Maria del Soccorso is the island’s most photogenic church, its simple whitewashed front facing the open sea.

How to experience

Ischia rewards mixing thermal leisure with movement. Give the castle a full morning — the causeway, the climb and the terraces deserve unhurried time — then take an afternoon in the water, whether at a thermal park or at Bagno Sorgeto’s natural hot-rock pools, where islanders have soaked for free for generations. Book garden visits ahead for guided tours or, better, for an evening concert at La Mortella, when music fills the terraces. Rent a scooter or use the island’s bus lines to trace the coast road from Ischia Ponte to Forio, stopping at villages as they come. Try the island’s white wines, grown from Biancolella and Forastera grapes on volcanic soil, with the day’s catch at a fishermen’s trattoria along the marina.

Practical planning

Ferries and hydrofoils cross from Naples (Molo Beverello and Calata di Massa) to Ischia Porto and Casamicciola Terme, roughly 50 to 90 minutes depending on vessel; cars face seasonal restrictions for non-residents in summer, so check before booking. The island’s tourism portal, ischia.it, and each municipality’s site carry timetables and event calendars. The castle is open daily for most of the year with a short winter maintenance closure, and La Mortella opens seasonally — confirm both on their official sites before travel. Beaches are rocky in places; swim shoes earn their keep. Spring and late September offer the best blend of warm sea, working towns and manageable crowds.

Nearby places

Across the water, the pastel harbour town of Procida lies closest by ferry, and the ridge walks of Capri with its quieter upper village Anacapri make a longer day trip. On the mainland, the volcanic archaeology of Pozzuoli and the Campi Flegrei continues Ischia’s geological story ashore.