Procida Yacht Charter: Marina Corricella, Chiaiolella and the First Night

“Procida is the Bay of Naples without the performance: four square kilometres of fishermen’s houses in every colour, a harbour that still works, and nobody queueing for it.”

In short. Procida is the smallest island in the Bay of Naples, 10 nautical miles from Naples and 5 from Ischia. Yachts anchor off Chiaiolella or the eastern beaches and tender in; the harbours are shallow and built for fishing boats. A week on this coast starts near €80,000.

It is the one island here that is still lived in rather than visited. Marina Corricella is a wall of ochre, pink and apricot houses straight out of the water, and it has been the backdrop for The Talented Mr Ripley and Il Postino. Italy made it the national Capital of Culture in 2022 and almost nothing changed, which is the point.

For a charter it is the first night out of Naples, a short hop that gets the group swimming the afternoon they board. Our seven-day Naples round trip starts here on day one, 11 nautical miles from the quay, before Ischia and Capri.

Must-dos on Procida

Marina Corricella from the water, the coloured houses stacked straight off the quay
Dinner at La Lampara, sea urchin pasta and the harbour below you
Anchor off Spiaggia della Chiaiolella, the calm water at the south end
Tender to Spiaggia di Chiaia for the view back at Corricella
The walk up to Terra Murata, the walled citadel and the old prison above the port

On this page: a day on Procida · what our brokers say · Marina Corricella · Terra Murata and the port · the beaches and Vivara · where yachts tie up · what it costs · distances · when to go · day charter or the week

What a day on Procida actually looks like

The pastel houses of Procida stacked above its harbour in the Bay of Naples, with the church dome at the top — Procida's old town above the harbour, Marina Corricella at sunset, and the port in the Gulf of Naples.

The fishing village of Marina Corricella on Procida at sunset, its coloured houses reflected in the harbour — Procida's old town above the harbour, Marina Corricella at sunset, and the port in the Gulf of Naples.

Procida is a boarding-day island, and that shapes everything.

Afternoon. Off the quay in Naples at noon, anchored here by early afternoon. It is 10 nautical miles, under an hour on a motor yacht, which is what a first day wants.

First swim. Chiaiolella at the southern end is the calm water, wide and shallow and good for children. The eastern side at Chiaia is the other option, with the view back along the coloured houses.

Late afternoon. Tender into Corricella. It takes twenty minutes to walk end to end and there is nothing to see except the thing itself: nets, boats being painted, cats, and washing between the windows.

Evening. Dinner on the harbour at La Lampara, or back aboard. If anyone wants a walk, the climb to Terra Murata behind the port is fifteen minutes and gives you the whole bay with Vesuvius behind it.

Morning. Five miles to Ischia, which is the shortest leg of the week.

What our brokers say about Procida

Procida is the island we put first when a group lands tired. The passage is short, the anchorage is calm, nobody has to dress for dinner and the island does not ask anything of you.

It is also the honest counterweight to the rest of this coast. Our guide to Italy without the crowds makes the point that Amalfi and Capri are famous because they are extraordinary, not because they are quiet. Procida is the opposite trade: nothing iconic, nothing booked, nothing queued.

The practical note is that the harbours here are small and shallow, built for the fishing fleet and the ferries. This is an anchor-and-tender island, not a berth.

Marina Corricella: the fishing harbour

Marina Corricella is the reason people come. It is a fishing harbour on the eastern side of the island with the houses built straight up out of the water in ochre, pink, apricot and faded blue, and it is still a working village rather than a restored one.

There are no cars in it. You arrive by tender or down a flight of steps, and the whole front is boats, nets and a handful of restaurants with tables on the quay. La Lampara is the one our itinerary sends guests to, for sea urchin pasta and the harbour view.

The colours have a reason: the houses were painted so fishermen could pick out their own from the water. That is also why it photographs the way it does, and why it is better seen from a tender fifty metres offshore than from inside the village.

Terra Murata and Marina Grande: the citadel and the port

Panorama of Procida port with the castle above it and fishing boats along the quay, Gulf of Naples — The port of Procida below the walled citadel of Terra Murata.

Above Corricella is Terra Murata, the walled citadel on the highest point of the island at about 90 metres. The Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo is up there, and so is Palazzo d’Avalos, a sixteenth-century palace that spent most of the twentieth century as a prison and closed in 1988. The walk up from the harbour takes about fifteen minutes and the view takes in the whole bay, Ischia to the west and Vesuvius across the water.

Marina Grande, on the north side, is the ferry port and the island’s front door: a long waterfront of painted houses, the hydrofoils from Naples, and most of the island’s shops. It is busier and less pretty than Corricella, and it is where you would send the crew for provisioning rather than the guests for a walk.

Chiaiolella, Chiaia and Vivara: the beaches

Procida means soft beaches, and for an island of four square kilometres it has a lot of coast. Spiaggia della Chiaiolella at the south end is the wide, calm one and the anchorage our itinerary uses; Spiaggia di Chiaia on the east side is shallow and sheltered with the view back at Corricella; Pozzo Vecchio, on the north-west, is the small dark-sand cove that appeared in Il Postino.

Off the southern tip, joined by a footbridge, is Vivara: a crescent-shaped nature reserve that is the rim of a collapsed volcanic crater, with no development on it at all. Access ashore is restricted, but the water between Vivara and Chiaiolella is the clearest water on the island and the usual place to put the toys in.

Where yachts actually tie up at Procida

At anchor off Chiaiolella at the south end, tender ashore. This is the standard plan and the one our itinerary uses.
At anchor off Chiaia on the east side, for the Corricella view and a shorter tender to the village.
Marina di Procida and Marina Grande take small craft only. The ferries and hydrofoils have priority and the depths suit fishing boats, so a crewed yacht of any size stays out and tenders in.

Our guide to marina and anchor nights in Italy covers the trade-off in full. Procida is firmly an anchor night, which is part of why it works as a first evening.

What a week around Procida costs

A crewed week in the Bay of Naples starts around €80,000 for a motor yacht. Most of the weeks we book on this coast land between €150,000 and €300,000, and the top of the market runs €300,000 to €500,000 and above.

On top of the rate comes an advance provisioning allowance of roughly 25 to 35 per cent, Italian VAT at 22 per cent and a gratuity of usually 5 to 15 per cent. Our Italy charter cost guide has the full breakdown, with separate guides to APA and VAT.

Procida costs nothing extra. There is no berth to buy and no beach club to book, which makes it one of the few stops on this coast that is as good on a tight budget as on a large one.

Fitting Procida into the week

Procida is the first night of a Naples week, or a quiet one on the way back.

From	Distance	At 12 knots
Ischia	5 nm	25 min
Naples	10 nm	50 min
Capri	15 nm	1 h 15
Sorrento	17 nm	1 h 25
Positano	22 nm	1 h 50

Our Naples round trip opens with Procida on day one and reaches Ischia on day two. See also where to start an Italy charter and how long the week should be.

When to go

May, June and September are the best of it: warm water, the village going about its business and very few day boats.
July and August bring Neapolitan holidaymakers rather than international crowds, which gives the island a different and quite good atmosphere, but Chiaiolella fills with local boats at weekends.
April and October are quiet and green, with some restaurants shut.

Our full month-by-month view is in the best time for an Italy charter.

Day trip to Procida, or the whole week?

Ferries and day boats run to Procida from Naples and Pozzuoli in under an hour, and for a day trip they work.

What they cannot give you is the evening. The island empties when the last ferry leaves, and Corricella at dusk with the lights coming on over the harbour is the version worth having. From a yacht you are already there, anchored off, with the tender for dinner.

If the week is the question we would put you on seven nights, or six at the shortest. Procida is the stop that costs you nothing and sets the tone for the rest of it.