Over 100 kilometres of unspoilt coastline!
Cilento is one of the most magical and evocative places in Campania. It stretches from Paestum – famous for its impressive Archaeological Park – to the Gulf of Policastro. A multitude of colourful villages, guardians of ancient popular traditions, enliven this area, such as Agropoli, Palinuro, Camerota, Sapri, Ascea and Santa Maria di Castellabate. Its beautiful beaches have often been awarded Blue Flags and the Legambiente Sails: sandy shores of fine, golden sand alternate with stretches of rocky, jagged coastline, rich in coves, prehistoric caves and watchtowers waiting to be discovered!
It is also home to Italy’s second largest park. Included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998, along with the Certosa di Padula and the archaeological area of Paestum, the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park includes the Bulgheria and Stella Mountains, and the peaks of Gelbison, Alburni and Cervati. Over 1,800 species of wild plants populate this area, along with a heterogeneous but harmonious fauna. We can find the splendid golden eagle, the wolf, the hare and the partridge. The cultural symbol of Cilento is certainly Velia, a very important centre of Magna Graecia founded in the 6th century B.C. together with the Eleatic school of philosophy, whose major exponents were Zeno and Parmenides. Among the many monuments, here you can visit the Porta Rosa, which served as a link between the two quarters of the city.
But this land is also famous for the exceptional quality of its gastronomic products. It is here that the Mediterranean diet was born, studied by Ancel Keys, the American physiologist and biologist who first discovered and documented the benefits of a diet based on pasta, bread, fresh fish, vegetables, pulses and olive oil.