# Italy:  Amalfi Coast



## moloch (Dec 6, 2011)

Last year was my wife's 60th birthday and I surprised her with tickets to Rome.  My wife loves Italy more than any other country in Europe.  She wanted to travel in September and October while the weather was still warm but the summer crowds were absent.  We therefore delayed the trip until this year.  We were lucky and experienced one of Italy's warmest autumns with balmy conditions until mid-October.  

This was my first visit to Italy and I did not know what to expect.  I normally prefer to travel in the Asian tropics or here in Australia.  I found that Italy was much more interesting than I anticipated.  Parts of it have spectacular scenery and I found many butterflies, birds and a few herps.   It was also an interesting feeling to walk in the hills and find ruins of buildings that were centuries old.

We spent most of our time at three locations including Cinque Terre, the Amalfi Coast and finally Florence/Assisi.  This report will cover my favourite part of the trip, the visit to the spectacular Amalfi Coast.  Some of you will be like me and not know much of this part of the world.  I will add a few "touristy" shots at the end of the post to give a feel for the place.  






Here are a few shots of the Amalfi area:
































The town of Amalfi was built in a narrow valley.  A stream flows down the valley but then is diverted into a channel that runs beneath the buildings.

















I found a trail that followed this stream for a few kilometers into the hills behind Amalfi.  This was interesting since it was densely wooded.  Also, there were many ancient ruins along the way.  These were always too shady for photos but here are habitat shots of the area.






This little frog was found along the stream.  I don't know its identity.













... typical view along the trails:






... high in the hills above Amalfi






These areas were good for herps.  One nice find was this snake that I think to be a Western Whip Snake (_Hierophis viridiflavus_):
















Wall Lizards were confusing.  I think that both Italian Wall Lizards (_Podarcis sicula_) and Common Wall Lizards (_Podarcis muralis_) were possible here.  The lizards that I photographed more closely resemble shots of Italian Wall Lizards but I am not certain of the species.  Does anyone out there know what should be examined to separate these species?



























Rock walls like this always had flowers and were a good place to find butterflies.






I don't know the name of this plant but it was attactive to many butterflies and hawk-moths.






Hummingbird Hawk-Moths (_Macroglossum stellatarum_) were commonly seen as they fed from mountain wildflowers.  Their abdomens had enlarged scales that looked a little like the fanned tail of a hovering hummingbird.







Swallowtail (_Papilio machaon_):  fairly common on flowers along the rock walls.







Lesser Woodland Graylings (_Hipparchia genava_) were numerous in the stream valley above Amalfi.  They often would lay their wings against rocks while basking in the morning.  







Tree Graylings (_Hipparchia statilinus_) were the most common satyrinae. These would also lay their wings flat on rocks or ferns when basking.












Speckled Wood (_Paragea egeria_):  These varied a little in colour and some were quite dark.
















Wall Browns (_Lasiommata megera_) were common in open areas such as along rock walls. They would usually flick the upper wing upwards when I took a photo.  This exposed the eyespot that was often obscured when the butterfly was resting.












Meadow Browns (_Maniola jurtina_) were seen a few times in the stream valley above Amalfi.







Red Admiral (_Vanessa atalanta_):  fairly common but usually wary and hard to approach.












Southern White Admiral (_Limenitis reducta_):  scarce with only a few seen.  Their undersurface is nicely marked and reminds me of a Commander in Malaysia.  In flight, they resemble a _Neptis_.












Silver-washed Fritillary (_Argynnis paphia_):  the male landed next to the basking female and began to display with quivering wings.












I walked from Amalfi up to the little village of Ravello a few times.  It was quite a walk.  One section of the trail had 700 steps so it was great exercise.  Wall Lizards were numerous in this area.  The view from the lookouts at Ravello was spectacular!  Birds here included species like European Robins, Serin, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Jay, Raven, Greenfinch, Acrocephalus warblers, White Wagtails, Grey Wagtails and others.

















... more to come later

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## Travis K (Dec 6, 2011)

Beautiful pics, and destination.  Can't wait to see more.


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## moloch (Dec 7, 2011)

*Sentiero degli Dei*

Thanks, Travis


One of the highlights of the trip was a mountain walk from Amalfi to Positano.  This walk is called "Sentiero degli Dei" ("Path of the Gods").  It certainly was beautiful with lovely vistas over the Lattari Mountains and the Isle of Capri in the distance.  We took a bus for 45 minutes from Amalfi up to the village of Bomarano.  The Path of the Gods walk commences there.  The walk was not all that long nor strenuous and it took us about 4 hours to reach the paved road in the hills above Positano.

Here are photos along the way.  It was amazing to see terraces carved into these steep slopes.  Just getting to those everyday would have been difficult.  The people who work those must be very fit.
















... odd, narrow cypress trees grew on some of the slopes.











... trail down to Positano











The stunning Positano. 












Along the way, I saw this Wall Lizard that might be different from the others.  I think that it may be a Common Wall Lizard (_P. muralis_) but I will need confirmation from someone.  It lived along the trail high in the hills.







This Wall Lizard was much more green than the others.  It was basking next to a shop where my wife was shopping.  I think that it is an Italian Wall Lizard.







Wall Gecko (_Tarentola mauritanica_):  I saw a couple on rock walls along the trail.







A few species of plants were flowering.  These attracted a variety of butterflies.
... carnation-like:













Here are shots of butterflies on the walk:
Clouded Yellows (_Coleus crocea_) were common.  This one was very cooperative and allowed me to get quite close for photos.  They usually were fast and wary.





I only saw a few of the whiter yellows.  They seemed to be smaller than the Clouded Yellow above.  When looking through the Italian butterfly website, I could not decide whether these were females of C. crocea or whether they might have been something different such as Berger's Clouded Yellows (_C. facariensis_).






This, to me, looks like a Mountain Small White (_Pieris ergane_), but I am not certain.  I learned on this trip that there are a number of "Cabbage Whites" in Europe. 











Small White (_Pieris rapae_) 






Bath Whites (_Pontia edusa_).  I see them often but they rarely seem to stop at flowers and when they do, the visits are brief.











I saw Graylings (_Hipparchia semele_) a few times above Positano.  These would often flick open their wings with the preflash to expose the eye spots.















Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

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## Shrike (Dec 16, 2011)

Excellent pictures.  That coastline is amazing!  Looks like you had some herping success.


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