Discover the marvels of Cilento
The Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park represents one of the most picturesque protected areas in Italy. An area that combines in a few dozen kilometres sea and mountain, flora and fauna like gems in a box. The different species reflect the origins of this area and are integral part and symbol of the local tradition.Cilento even means land of myth and ancient civilizations. Through the centuries, since the colonies of Magna Graecia and the beginnings of history, different cultures followed one another determining the unique but multi-faceted local identity.
The city of philosophers | Elea Velia
Today an archaeological park with thousands of visitors every year, once a Mediterranean city founded by Phocaean colonies in an expanding Magna Graecia. Elea, its ancient name, rose on the cape you can still see today, as the coastline still lied further back and there were two ports.It was this enviable position that made the fortune of this population that lived from trade with the East, so that even Rome had to acknowledge its administrative autonomy. The region’s wealth even meant naval power, a feared and highly regarded fleet thanks to its worthy missions during the Punic Wars.
But in history Elea is best known as the home of the philosophers Parmenides and Zeno. There where today luxuriant ancient olive trees cover the promontory and the agora with their shadow, long ago the Eleatic school evolved its main doctrine. By visiting the excavations you will immediately feel the emotion of being thrown in a culturally rich past.
A fabulous sea | La costa del Cilento
Don't think about twice! The Cilento is Italy's most appreciated sea. Annually it is rewarded by the FEE, international organisation promoting sustainable development, and by Legambiente. 2007 eight resorts have been rewarded with the Blue Flag, almost all located in the Campania region. Pioppi and Acciarioli are leading locations in promoting eco-sustainable tourism and in preserving and protecting marine nature from pollution.
In the Guida Blu (“Blue guideâ€), the Italian Touring Club and Legambiente attribute to Pioppi and Acciaroli 5 Vele (Sails), highest possible score and therefore 4th most beautiful sea of Italy. Even Marina di Ascea, only a few kilometres away, has wonderful beaches thanks to the natural dune and the hills covered by verdant olive groves going from Marina to Pisciotta.
In the green heart of Cilento | Il Parco Nazionale
Cilento means above all National Park. Founded in 1991 with the name Parco Nazionale del Cilento e Vallo di Diano, it has a vast protected area along the coast with numerous visitors every year. 1998 it became Wold Heritage Site underlining some of the marvels it hides: from the Certosa di Padula to the Archeological sites of Paestum and Velia, Monte Cervati and Vallo di Diano, Monte Stella and Punta Licosa, Cape Palinuro, Punta Infreschi and Monte Bulgheria. Besides excursions on the paths with guides who know the routes´ characteristics, visitors can use observation posts for admiring migratory birds such as herons or raptorial birds such as the golden eagle and the peregrine falcon.
The vegetation is manifold because in a few dozen kilometres you can reach the sea and 1500 m altitude. The coast presents partly high rocks and partly low rocks near the floodplain. This morphological variety is due even to more than 1800 plant species present on the area, one of this is the National Park´s symbol Primula Palinuri, exclusively present in the costal area of Cape Palinuro and Porto Infreschi.