Natural Park of Porto Selvaggio - Salento

Departure from Santa Maria al Bagno and through bicycle path in about 3 km to Santa Caterina and the slopes of the Tower.

Ascent with portage on path and stairs: arrival at Torre dell'Alto, one of the towers established in the 16th century to defend against the Turks. We take wide dirt road, walk along the wall of Villa Tafuri for about 700 meters and then take one of the many paths on the left that takes us to the bay of Porto Selvaggio, near Grotta Gaia.

We climb the main dirt road keeping then on paths to the left to a wide downhill driveway and a small path to the right to return to the beach, a bay in the direction of Grotta del Cavallo.

We reconnect to the initial bay, again uphill on driveway keeping to the right this time, resume dirt road lined with wall and return to Torre dell'Alto. Nice two descent trails to the sea, especially the first one.

Overall difficulty MC - s1, except the two small paths, difficulty BC i.e. s2.

Below are two sites with directions to the area.

www.portoselvaggio.net/default.html

www.inviaggioconricky.it/visita-parco-naturale-di-porto-selvaggio/

St. Catherine's

Alto Tower

Villa Tafuri

bay of Porto Selvaggio, in the vicinity of Grotta Gaia

bay in the direction of Grotta del Cavallo