Nuovo Cilento Territory
The Romans took over the territory from 273 BC. Together with Vallo di Diano, Western Lucania and Calabria, Cilento was part of the Augustan “Tertia Regio”. After the end of the Roman Empire the territory passed from Byzantine hands, to the Lombard, Norman, Swabian, Angevin, Aragonese, Spanish, French, Austrian, until it was integrated into the Kingdom of Italy and became a National Park, Unesco heritage, in the nineties.
The most important remains of the Middle Ages date back to the presence of the Norman family of Sanseverino, of which the Castle of Rocca Cilento survives.
In medieval times, the toponym Cilento concerned the villages at the foot of Monte della Stella (1131 m); this area is referred to as “Cilento antico”.
The geography of the territory
The town’s name Cilento derives from the Latin “cis-Alentum”, or “on this side of the river Alento” and appears as early as 994 AD. The area, now included in the National Park perimeter, was geographically recognized in the valleys of Alento, Mingardo, Bussento, Calore, Diano, large ecological corridors rich in history and fascinating naturalistic destinations.
Today the toponym Cilento tends to include all this vast area as an effect of the unifying role of the National Park.
1
UNESCO World Heritage Park, Biosphere Reserve and Geopark
181048
Hectares of coast, hills and mountains
9215
Hectares of marine protected areas
2031
Classified plants
13
Slow Food Presidia
The Cilento of Records
The territory includes many mountains over a thousand meters, extensive woods, pastures, hills rich in agricultural products DOP Cilento and BIO, fantastic beaches, which are at the top of the Italian rankings of Legambiente, Touring Club, Blue Flag.
Cilento is the territory of records: these are just some of the most prestigious testimonies, real national, European and world records that the territory includes.
THE MOUNTAINS
49 mountain peaks over a thousand meters high, including Monte Cervati (1,898 m), the highest peak in the countryside, and Monte Motola (1,700 m), with the largest yew and silver fir forest in Southern Italy.
THE CAVES AND THE RIVER
The Caves of Castelcivita (4,800 m long), one of the largest speleological complexes in southern Italy with finds from the Paleolithic, the Pertosa Caves, with an underground river and the remains of a pile-dwelling village of 2000 BC, and the Bussento river with the longest underground karst path in Italy (4 km as the crow flies) between Caselle in Pittari and Morigerati.
BIODIVERSITY
2,031 species of different plants classified, equal to a quarter of Italian biodiversity, and the unique collections of seeds and plants in the Ecomuseums of Sassano and Teggiano
The Naturalistic Museum
The Naturalistic Museum of the Alburni boasts one of the most important collections in Italy with finds of 530 species of birds, 60 of mammals, 20,000 of insects as well as crustaceans.
THE SEA
12 Blue Flag beaches in 2022, the cleanest marine waters in Italy in Acciaroli according to Legambiente and the most beautiful beach in Italy Cala Bianca make the coast one of the most coveted of the peninsula
THE PALEOLITHIC
Places of the Paleolithic among the most important in Europe: Camerota-Scario and Castelcivita, Cala Bianca, Cala d’Arconte, caves of Cala, Poggio, Serratura, Noglio, the shelter of the Molar.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARKS
Paestum, the archaeological park with the best preserved Greek temples in the world and the museum with the oldest Greek-Italic painting, and the Archaeological Park of Velia, a Greek-Ionian urban heritage still intact.
THE CHARTERHOUSE
The magnificent Certosa di Padula, the largest and most spectacular in Italy, covers 51,500 m² arranged on three cloisters, a garden, a courtyard and a church. It houses the provincial archaeological museum of western Lucania.
art
The best preserved frescoes of Byzantine culture of the X-XI century A.D. in Italy in the Abbey of the Italo-Greek Monks in Pattano and the paintings of the Southern Renaissance of Raphael’s pupils in Novi Velia in S. Maria dei Lombardi.
THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET
Pioppi, a town that was for 40 years the residence with gardens of Ancel Keys and his collaborators, fathers of the Mediterranean Diet UNESCO heritage, and the Museum of the Mediterranean diet with the documents of the founding fathers.
Sustainable holidays
with the Cooperativa Nuovo Cilento
Do you want to spend a holiday in one of the natural territories with a unique biodiversity,
including archaeological sites and artistic wonders?
Choose Cilento and set off on a life-long Mediterranean journey:
browse the sustainable accommodation facilities of the Cooperativa Agricola Nuovo Cilento.
New Cilento
AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE
shop online
Oil, legumes, preserves, pasta, sauces, wines. Discover and buy online the excellence of the Cooperativa Nuovo Cilento.
RESTAURANT AL FRANTOIO
From the land to the table. Everything we produce becomes the protagonist of experiences of pure Cilento taste in our restaurant.
EDUCATIONAL FARM
Environmental, sensory and nutritional education. Discover our educational paths and workshops for schools, companies and researchers.
Contact us
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