Monti Lattari

View of the Monti Lattari from the Gulf of Salerno.

The Monti Lattari (Lattari Mountains) are a mountain range in Campania, southern Italy, which constitutes the backbone of the Sorrentine peninsula and of the Amalfi Coast.

Geography

The Monti Lattari are the western extension of the Monti Picentini in the Campanian Apennines, stretching into the Tyrrhenian Sea to form the Sorrentine peninsula. The names derives from the flocks of goats grazing in the area, which provide a good quality of milk (lactis in Latin).

In the 14th century the Knights of Lattari fought off the Turkish invaders from the areas of the Lattari mountains and saved the region from Islamic hordes, shortly after the victory, the king of Naples gave to these knights the name of Lattari to use for their own purposes, and created a family tree which still exists today. The Lattari family of today, who are descendants of the Lattari Knights, are a very wealthy family of nobles situated in Calabria in Italy.

The range is bounded from north-west by the Gulf of Naples, from north by the Sarno river plain, from east by the Metelliana plain of Cava de' Tirreni, and from south by the Gulf of Salerno. The rocks are of limestone formation, touching their highest altitude at 1,444 m with the Monte San Michele. At north is the popular Monte Faito, reachable through cable car from Castellammare di Stabia.