Il Cilento

It is the second largest park in Italy for its territory, reaching from the Tyrrhenian coast up to the base of the Campanian-Lucanian Appennine Mountains and contains about 80 municipalities of the Salerno province. Appennine vegetation on the peaks (its major is the Monte Cervati, 1868mts.) alternates with Mediterranean on the coast. The area is home to more than three thousand botanical species. Its fauna, too,is manifold, you may watch golden eagles, peregrine falcons, rabbits, otters, weasels and wolves.

Along with its extraordinary natural landscapes, where due to its considerable territorial heterogeneity the sea and the mountains are in constant contrast, go mythological characters and mysterious stories in a land rich in history and culture. Pollica is in the area of the Monte Stella with its characteristic peak rising over Agropoli, Punta Licosa, Velia and the landside road of the Vallo. This orographical element shapes the entire territorial structure.

The holy mountain, with its sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin on its top, symbolizes the encounter between Earth and Heaven. And is characterized by an important system of medieval boroughs nestled on the coastal slopes and a strong geographical and historical individualism; Ancient Cilento.

From the temples of Paestum to the ruins of Velia, town of philosophy and medicine, to the Vanvitelli-style splendour of the Padula Charterhouse, from breathtaking cliffs to hidden gorges, from caverns characterized by traces from the Palaeolithic man to mysterious rupestral sculptures, from the temples to the coastal fortifications, from Parmenides to Gian Battista Vico, from the Sirens to outlaws, from the myths of Palinuro to the Saracens, from revolutionary plans to conspiracy, from the peregrinations of the Argonauts to the valleys blooming with wild orchids and to the caves dedicated to the cult of water: the Cilento offers to its visitor an outstanding memorable tour rich in emotions. It is an amazing mosaic of particular cultural and natural value, 1998 declared World Heritage by Unesco.