Cilento is an Italian geographical region of

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

in the central and southern part of the Province of Salerno and an important

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism ...

area of southern Italy. Cilento is known as one of the centers of Mediterranean diet.

Geography

The

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

of Cilento is located on the Tyrrhenian Sea, stretching from Paestum to the Gulf of Policastro, near the town of Sapri. Most of the touristic destinations in the coast are ''

frazioni A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

'' (hamlets) of '' comuni'' whose seats are inland; examples include Santa Maria di Castellabate, Acciaroli, Velia, Palinuro, Marina di Camerota, Scario and Policastro Bussentino. The inner boundaries are the Alburni

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

s and Vallo di Diano, sometimes considered as part of Cilentan geographical region, which has in Sala Consilina its largest center. The most important towns in this area are

Vallo della Lucania Vallo della Lucania (commonly known simply as ''Vallo'') is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It lies in the middle of Cilento and its population is 8,680.

(in the middle), Sapri and Agropoli: this is the largest town of Cilento and the principal harbour. Most of this area is included in "Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park".

Inland communes

* Alfano *

Campora Campora is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Salerno, Campania (southern Italy). It is located in the territory of Cilento and as of 2009 its population was 810.

* Celle di Bulgheria * Felitto * Futani *

Laurino Laurino is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of southwestern Italy. Geography Laurino is a typical medieval hill town of the Cilento, the southernmost part of Campania. It dominates the surrounding landsca ...

Moio Della Civitella * Montano Antilia * Monte Cicerale *

Monteforte Cilento Monteforte Cilento is a town and '' comune'' of the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-west Italy. History Monteforte was originally a Roman ''castrum'', which expanded in the High Middle Ages after immigration due to the Sarace ...

* Morigerati *

Ogliastro Cilento Ogliastro Cilento is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. As of 2011 its population was of 2,241. History First mentioned in 1059 as ''Oleastrum'' ( Latin word referred to the Olive tr ...

Omignano Omignano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. Geography The municipality borders with Casal Velino, Lustra, Salento, Sessa Cilento and Stella Cilento. See also *Cilento Cilento ...

Ottati Ottati ( Cilentan: ''Utatte'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-west Italy. As of 2011 its population was of 680. History The town was founded in the 12th century, presumably by shepherds who aba ...

Piaggine Piaggine, also called “Chiaine“ in the local dialect, is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, in the south-west of Italy. The town is located on the river Calore, 93 miles (150 km) south-east of N ...

* Salento * Sessa cilento *

Prignano Cilento Prignano Cilento is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. As of 2017 its population was of 1,035. Geography Location Prignano is located in northern Cilento and borders with the munici ...

Rutino Rutino is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of southwestern Italy. It is in the geographic region Cilento. Politic geography The comune is divided into Rutino, the principal city, and the "frazione" of Ruti ...

* Sacco *

Stio Stio is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. As of 2016, its population was 872. History The village was founded in the beginnings of the 11th century. The origin of the name is debated ...

Torchiara Torchiara is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. Geography The municipality borders with Agropoli, Laureana Cilento, Lustra, Prignano Cilento and Rutino. It counts the ''frazione'' o ...

* Tortorella * Trentinara *

Seaside Communes

* Agropoli * Ascea * Camerota *

Capaccio Capaccio Paestum (formerly only Capaccio) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. The ruins of the ancient Greek city of Paestum lie within borders of the ''comune''. History Geograp ...

* Caprioli * Casal Velino * Castellabate *

Centola Centola ( Cilentan: ''Cendula'') is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. Geography Located in southern Cilento, Centola borders with the municipalities of Camerota, Celle di Bulgheria ...

Montecorice Montecorice is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. As of 2011 its population was of History Montecorice likely originated as a small village around the monastery of Sant'Arcangelo, whi ...

* Palinuro * Pisciotta * Pollica * San Giovanni a Piro * San Mauro Cilento * Sapri

History

Greek colonies

The region is steeped in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...

and legends, as in the names of some towns, which is also visible in the remains of the

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

of Velia (ancient Elea) and Paestum (ancient Poseidonia). Velia was also the seat of " Eleatics", a school of

pre-Socratic philosophers Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of th ...

as Parmenides, Zeno of Elea and Melissus of Samos). Cilento comes by the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

word ''Cis Alentum'', meaning "On this side of the Alento".

Sixth province of Campania

In the 1990s it was proposed to make Cilento a new province of

. This proposal has never come near to implementation; in particular there was the difficulty of choosing an administrative centre. The four candidates were

(in the most central position), Agropoli (the largest town, situated in the north), Sala Consilina (the most populous town of Vallo di Diano) and Sapri (in the centre of southern Cilento, with the most important railway station). Another more recent proposal was to move Cilento from Campania to

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

, as a third province together with the existing provinces of Potenza and Matera.

The Cultural Pyramid

Piramide Culturale del Ciento ideata da Menotti Lerro

In 2020, the poet Menotti Lerro drew an innovative Cultural Pyramid of Cilento. The form of this came out adding the "Cultural Triangle" he founded (

- "The Aphorisms Village", Salento - "The Poetry Village" and

"Seat of the Contemporary Center of the Arts") at the historical summits of high cultural tradition in Cilento: Paestum, Velia and Palinuro. In a second moment also Trentinara - "The Village of Love" joined. Within the Triangle a new literary, artistic, philosophical and cultural movement arose: the Empathism (Empathic School).

National Park

In 1991, Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park was instituted to preserve the landscape and promote tourism. In 1998, the park became a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

Coast

The Cilentan Coast, or ''Costiera Cilentana'' in Italian, is a stretch of coastline situated in the gulfs of Salerno and Policastro, extending in 16 municipalities; from Capaccio-Paestum in the north-west to Sapri in the south-east.

Language

Cilento was part of ancient Lucania, and its

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

is influenced by Lucanian. In the north of Cilento the

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...

is more influenced by

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

, but in the south it has many similarities with Sicilian.

Cilento DOC

Italian wine, red, white and ''

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

'', under the Cilento DOC appellation comes from this area. Grapes destined for DOC product must be harvested to a maximum yield of 12 tonnes/

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

with the finished red wines fermented to a minimum alcohol level of 11.5% and the whites and ''roses'' fermented to 11%. Red Cilento wines are a blend of 60-70%

Aglianico Aglianico ( , ) is a black grape grown in the southern regions of Italy, mostly Basilicata and Campania. It is considered with Sangiovese and Nebbiolo to be one of the three greatest Italian varieties. Aglianico is sometimes called "The Barolo ...

, 15-20% of

Piedirosso Piedirosso is a red Italian wine grape variety that is planted primarily in the Campania region. The grape is considered a specialty of the region, being used to produce wines for local and tourist consumption. Its name "piedirosso" means "red f ...

and/or

Primitivo Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kašte ...

, 10-20% Barbera and up to 10% of other local red

grape varieties This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see V ...

. The whites are a blend of 60-65% Fiano, 20-30% Trebbiano, 10-15% of Greco and/or

Malvasia bianca Malvasia (, also known as Malvazia) is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean region, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and the island of Madeira, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world. ...

with up to 10% of other local white varieties. The ''roses'' are blends of 70-80%

Sangiovese Sangiovese (, also , , ) is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin ''sanguis Jovis'', "the blood of Jupiter". Though it is the grape of most of central Italy from Romagna down to Lazio (the most widespread grap ...

, 10-15% of Piedirosso and/or Primitivo and up to 10% of other local red grape varieties. A separate varietal Aglianico can also be produced under the Cilento DOC provided that at least 85% of the wine is Aglianico with Primitivo and/or Piedirosso permitted to fill in the remainder and that the wine is aged at least one year before it is released.

Photogallery

image:Agropoli700.JPG, Agropoli File:Velia2-enhanced.jpg, Velia image:Isola di Licosa.jpg, Licosa island in the ''Comune'' of Castellabate image:View of Paestum.JPG, Paestum Image:Hera_temple_I_-_Paestum_-_Poseidonia_-_July_13th_2013_-_01.jpg, Paestum Image:Romagnano02.jpg, Romagnano al Monte Image:Zona Lago.jpg, S.Maria di Castellabate Image:Capo palinuro.jpg, Cape Palinuro

References

Sources

* Maurizio Tortora: ''Cilientu mia''. Edizione del Delfino, 1977,

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

* Giuseppe Vallone: ''Dizionarietto etimologico del basso Cilento''. Editore UPC, 2004 * Pietro Rossi: ''Ieri e oggi 1955-2005. Poesie in cilentano''. Grafiche Erredue, 2005 * Barbara Schäfer: ''Limoncello mit Meerblick. Unterwegs an der Amalfiküste und im Cilento''. Picus, 2007, * Peter Amann: ''Cilento aktiv mit Costa di Maratea - Aktivurlaub im ursprünglichen Süditalien''. Mankau, 2007, * Peter Amann: ''Golf von Neapel, Kampanien, Cilento''. Reise Know-How, 2006, * Barbara Poggi: ''La Cucina Cilentana - Köstlichkeiten aus der Cilento-Küche''. Mankau, 2006, * Luciano Pignataro: ''Le ricette del Cilento''. Ed. Ippogrifo, 2007, * Menotti Lerro, ''La Scuola Empatica: movimento letterario-artistico-filosofico e culturale sorto in Italia nel 2020'', Ladolfi, 2020

External links

What to do and see in Cilento and Tourism in Cilento

Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park

Historical and other infos about Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park

Tourism in the National park of Cilento

Tourism and holidays in Cilento

Cilento Social Network
{{Authority control Geography of Campania Tourist attractions in Campania Biosphere reserves of Italy World Heritage Sites in Italy Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy