Campania · Napoli
Forio
The largest Ischia commune by area, a Tyrrhenian coastal town facing the island's only sunset.
Known for
IL SOCCORSO
Sixteenth-century white church on a sea promontory, the most photographed building on Ischia and the symbol of Forio.
LA MORTELLA
Composer William Walton and Susana Walton created the two-hectare subtropical garden above Forio between 1956 and 1991.
CITARA THERMAL
Thermal springs on the western coast feeding the Poseidon Gardens with twenty-two pools below the slopes of Monte Epomeo.
When to visit
Best · May–Sep
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
The festa: San Vito, 14 June
Why come
Forio sits on the western coast of Ischia, the largest commune of the island by area and the second by population. Seventeen towers, built between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries to defend against Saracen raids, are scattered through the town and surrounding countryside, with the largest anchoring the old center and the rest marking the line where the built town gives way to open countryside. The coast runs from the northern bay below the church of San Francesco di Paola down to the western beaches at Citara, where the volcanic sand faces the only sunset on the island.
Inland and above, the hillside terrain that drew a composer to build and plant runs down toward the thermal springs feeding the pools near the shore. The commune reads as a string of distinct pieces, defensive towers, a promontory church, a garden hillside, a thermal coast, held together less by a single center than by the shared western exposure that lights the water each evening.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Forio’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
What to see
Chiesa del Soccorso
White walls on a promontory catch the light over the sea, the church mixing Moorish, Byzantine and Mediterranean elements in its rebuilding.
Il Torrione
Fifteenth-century defensive tower in the centro storico, largest of the seventeen Forio towers, now a small museum and viewpoint.
Giardini La Mortella
Susana Walton built the garden on the hillside her husband William composed on, terraces of subtropical species climbing the slope above the town.
Giardini Poseidon
Thermal park at Citara bay with twenty-two pools at varying temperatures, fed by springs flowing beneath Monte Epomeo.
Spiaggia di Citara
Volcanic-sand beach on the western coast facing the sunset, the longest stretch of free beach in the Forio commune.
Baia di San Francesco
Northern bay of the Forio commune, a quieter beach below the church of San Francesco di Paola.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Forio fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
We recommend
Where to eat and stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Il MirtoRistorante
Il Mirto has one Gambero Rosso fork (78/100) and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Il SaturninoRistorante
Il Saturnino carries a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal SpaHotel
Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa carries a La Liste score of 95, plus a Leading Hotels of the World listing.
Botania Relais & SpaHotel
A Leading Hotels of the World listing, at Botania Relais & Spa.
Living here
- Population 17,437
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Regional capital Napoli, 4 h 43 min drive
Thermal baths in town: Sorgente Sorgeto, Parco idrotermale Poseidon, Giardini Poseidon Terme.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 18 m
- Population: 17,437
- Surface area: 13.08 km²
On the map
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Forio
Casamicciola Terme
Province: Napoli
Ischia's thermal town on the flank of Monte Epomeo, levelled by the 1883 earthquake and again in 2017, rebuilt on the Gurgitello springs.
Procida
Province: Napoli
A four-square-kilometer Flegrean island of pastel fishing houses, the 2022 Italian Capital of Culture.
Bacoli
Province: Napoli
A town twenty kilometers west of Napoli, the Roman Bauli, where a cistern fed the imperial fleet at Miseno.
Pozzuoli
Province: Napoli
A Roman port on a volcanic caldera, the Greek Dicearchia and the Roman Puteoli, where a market's columns first proved that the ground itself rises and falls.
Anacapri
Province: Napoli
The upper half of Capri, 150 meters above its famous twin.