Sunset in Forio: The Magic of the Church of Soccorso

There are evenings in Ischia when you really don't need a plan. If you happen to be walking through the centre of Forio as the afternoon comes to an end, perhaps after the beach or a walk through town, just keep going towards the sea until you reach the Church of Soccorso. You don't need a reservation and you don't really need to know what you're going to do once you get there. Just arrive a little before sunset and you'll probably understand why.

The Soccorso has always been one of those places that belongs to Forio. The white church standing above the sea, the rocks below it and the completely open horizon towards the west make it beautiful at almost any time of day, but in the evening the atmosphere changes. People begin to arrive slowly, some because they came specifically for the sunset and others simply because they were walking through town and decided to follow everyone else towards the sea.

A Spritz, the Sea and a Place to Sit

Continue past the church towards the back of the harbour wall and you'll see what has become a very simple summer ritual in Forio. Couples, groups of friends, families, travellers and locals gather here as the sun begins to drop. Some sit facing the sea, others stand along the wall and many make themselves comfortable on the large red cushions laid out overlooking the water. There's also a small truck serving Spritz and other drinks, which means that without having organised anything at all, you suddenly find yourself with a cold drink in your hand, the Mediterranean in front of you and nowhere in particular you need to be.

Then the light begins to change. Conversations continue, people take photographs, boats return towards the harbour and eventually almost everyone starts looking in the same direction. For a few minutes hundreds of people, most of whom don't know each other, are simply waiting for the same thing.

The Church of Soccorso does the rest. Its white walls catch the last warm light of the day and, as the sun gets lower and the first evening lights begin to appear, the whole area becomes one of those scenes that somehow feels unmistakably like Ischia.

7 Km di Tramonto

This relationship between Forio and sunset is also behind 7 Km di Tramonto, an initiative promoted by the Municipality of Forio along roughly seven kilometres of the western coastline, from San Francesco to Punta Imperatore. The idea is beautiful precisely because it is so simple: there isn't one official place where everyone has to go to watch the sunset. Forio has beaches, rocks, promenades and viewpoints facing west, so everyone can find their own place and enjoy the last part of the day in their own way.

The Soccorso, however, has something different because here the sunset has gradually become a shared moment. People arrive, find somewhere to sit, order a drink and wait. On particularly clear evenings you may even hear someone talking about the famous Green Flash, the very brief optical phenomenon that can sometimes appear on the horizon just as the last part of the sun disappears into the sea. You might see it or you might not, but after a while that almost becomes secondary.

Perhaps that's the best way to explain sunset in Forio: it isn't simply something you go to see, it's a moment of the day that you somehow end up becoming part of.

If You're Already in Forio, Don't Overthink It

This is probably when we recommend the Soccorso most. Imagine you've spent the afternoon in Forio, you've wandered through the centre, done a little shopping or just come back from the beach. Dinner is still a little while away and somebody asks the inevitable question: what shall we do now?

Don't make it complicated. Walk towards the Soccorso.

Try to arrive around 30 or 40 minutes before sunset, get yourself a Spritz, find somewhere comfortable and stay there for a while. Sunset times change throughout the season, so it's worth checking the time on the day, but don't make the mistake of leaving the moment the sun disappears. Some evenings the best colours arrive afterwards, when the horizon is still glowing but the sky above Forio is already becoming darker and the lights around the church begin to come on.

Once it's over, you're already practically in the centre of Forio, so there's no need to get back in the car or move to another part of the island. You can simply continue walking through town, stop for another aperitivo or find somewhere for dinner. And if you're planning the rest of your stay, have a look at our guide to What to Do in Ischia, where we're gradually collecting the places and experiences we actually visit ourselves.

If you're someone who always looks for sunset when travelling, the Soccorso is only the beginning. In our guide to Where to Watch the Sunset in Ischia we've collected some of the other places around the island where we like to wait for the end of the day, while our Ischia Guide is where we're slowly bringing everything together: beaches, villages, walks, food and the smaller places and stories we find as we continue travelling around our own island.

But if tonight you happen to be in Forio and haven't organised anything, our advice is even simpler: don't organise anything.

Walk to the Soccorso, get something to drink and find a place facing the sea. Watch the people around you, the boats returning towards the harbour, the white church changing colour in the evening light and the sun slowly disappearing beyond the horizon.

Sometimes the best plans in Ischia are the ones you never made.

The Ischia Guide — by Gabbiyaah
The island, told by those who live it.