Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni Park
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
The Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park can be reached via the Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway, which runs through the Vallo di Diano in the eastern part of the park with several relevant toll stations: the Campagna exit serves the northern Alburni sector with continuation towards Controne and the Grotte di Castelcivita; the Petina exit for the southern side of the Alburni; the Padula-Buonabitacolo exit for the Certosa di Padula and the southern Vallo di Diano municipalities; the Polla exit serves the eastern sector of the park. On the coastal side, the state road Tirrena Inferiore connects Salerno to Agropoli and continues along the Cilento coast towards Pisciotta, Palinuro and Sapri, providing access to the park's coastal municipalities. The Park Authority headquarters are located in Vallo della Lucania, Via Montesani. The nearest railway stations to the coastal strip are Agropoli-Castellabate and Pisciotta-Palinuro on the Trenitalia (TI) Naples-Reggio Calabria line; for the inland area and the Vallo di Diano, the main railway hubs are Battipaglia (to the north) and Sapri (to the south). Naples Capodichino airport is the main air reference, some 100 km from Vallo della Lucania; Salerno-Pontecagnano airport offers closer connections. Four main visitor centres guide visitors: Agropoli for the northern coastal sector, Capaccio-Paestum for access to the archaeological heritage, Vallo della Lucania for the inland Cilento and Sala Consilina for the Vallo di Diano.
.Introduction
The Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park covers the southern part of the province of Salerno, in Campania, from the Tyrrhenian coast to the Campania-Lucania Apennines, encompassing the territories of 80 municipalities and 8 mountain communities covering an area of approximately 1,810.48 kmĀ². Established by framework law No. 394 of 6 December 1991 and regulated by Presidential Decree of 5 June 1995, it is the second largest national park in Italy. It accumulates the widest international recognition among Italian national parks: since 1997 it has been a UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve; since 1998 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the archaeological sites of Paestum and Velia and the Certosa di Padula; and since 2010 it has been a UNESCO World Geopark, the first Italian national park to obtain this designation. The Primula palinuriPetagna - a rare palaeoendemism that grows on the limestone cliffs of the Tyrrhenian coast between Palinuro and Maratea - is the symbol of the park.
Description
The park territory is divided into three distinct geographical systems that intersect: the Tyrrhenian coastal strip, the inland Cilento and the Vallo di Diano with the Alburni Mountains. The coast, stretching from Agropoli to Scario, alternates low and sandy stretches - from the Sele Plain to Agropoli, and then between Casal Velino and Ascea - with high and rocky coastlines riddled with caves and inlets, with limestone promontories such as Capo Palinuro, the Ripe Rosse and Punta degli Infreschi. Inland, the Cilento proper is a system of reliefs that gradually rises to the highest peaks: Mount Cervati (1,898m, the highest peak in Campania), Mount Alburni (1,742m), Mount Motola (1,743m), Mount Gelbison, known as Sacro Monte (1,705m), Mount Bulgheria (1,224m) and Mount Stella (1,131m). The watercourses have torrential character and varying regimes: the Alento River flows in the coastal strip; the Mingardo, the Bussento and the Upper Calore - with the spectacular Calore Gorge in the Felitto area - furrow the inland valleys. The Vallo di Diano, in the eastern part of the park, is an alluvial plain at about 500 m altitude enclosed between the Alburni and Basilicata ranges, crossed by the Tanagro river.
The park's geology is marked by the coexistence of two prevalent formations: the "Flysch del Cilento" a clastic rock rich in colour variations and stratifications that outcrops in the western and coastal sectors; the carbonate rocks (limestone and dolomite from the Mesozoic era) that dominate the Alburni, Cervati and Gelbison, leading to intense karstification with caves, dolines and springs. The Grotte di Castelcivita in the Alburni Mountains is one of the most extensive cave complexes in southern Italy, with around 4.800m of total development and environments rich in concretions; the Grotte dell'Angelo di Pertosa-Auletta, crossed by an inland waterway navigable by boat, preserve the remains of a pile-dwelling village dating back to 2000 BC.
The flora includes about 1,800 species of wild native plants, 10% of which are endemic or rare. The Primula palinuriPetagna - the symbol of the park - is a palaeoendemic dating back to the ancient Quaternary period (about 2.5 million years ago), probably considered the only survivor of a family of primroses once widespread in the mountains of southern Italy; it grows on coastal limestone cliffs up to 200m above sea level, in northern exposures, in the only known coastal habitat for a primrose in the world. The Genista cilentana is a further endemism strictly localised in the park area. Mediterranean maquis with holm oak, myrtle, strawberry tree and phillyrea dominate the coastal and hillside areas; olive groves and historic vineyards characterise the Cilento hills. At higher altitudes, beech forests often mixed with silver fir (Abies alba) extend, with a rare natural fir forest on Mount Cervati. The Woodwardia radicans, an arboreal fern of Tertiary origin, is present in the wet valleys of the Tyrrhenian slope.
The fauna includes the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), the lanner (Falco biarmicus) - a high-mountain bird of prey rare in Italy - and the chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) on the summit cliffs. The eagle's preferred prey - the rock partridge (Alectoris graeca) and the Apennine hare (Lepus corsicanus) - maintain indigenous Apennine populations in the park, which have now disappeared in much of the national territory. The Apennine wolf (Canis lupus italicus) is present throughout the park; the otter (Lutra lutra) frequents the most intact river stretches. In the marine waters of the two marine protected areas - Santa Maria di Castellabate and Costa degli Infreschi and the Masseta in the Gulf of Policastro - there are prairies of Posidonia oceanica that are among the best preserved in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Human presence in the Cilento area has been documented since the Middle Palaeolithic, with traces in the coastal caves between Palinuro and Scario and in the caves of the Alburni. Greek colonisation produced some of the most flourishing cities of Magna Graecia: Paestum (founded around 600 B.C.), with its three Doric temples among the best preserved in the ancient world, and Velia (Elea, founded by the Phocians in 540 B.C.), seat of the Eleatic philosophical school of Parmenides and Zeno. Both sites are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site (1998) together with the national park. The Carthusian Monastery of San Lorenzo in Padula, founded in 1306 by Count Tommaso Sanseverino and enlarged until the 18th century, is the largest monastic complex in southern Italy: the 152m per side cloister is among the largest in the world, with 84 columns and 84 cells for the monks. The Charterhouse is also part of the 1998 UNESCO site. The Cilento area preserves medieval villages, Basilian rock churches and agro-pastoral traditions that are still alive, including the production of honey, buffalo cheese and indigenous olive cultivars that form the basis of the Mediterranean diet - a dietary model whose identification with the Cilento area is linked to the studies of the American physiologist Ancel Keys, who lived in Pioppi di Pollica from the 1960s onwards.
The park was established under framework law No. 394 of 6 December 1991, with a final perimeter in 1993 and a management body established by Presidential Decree of 5 June 1995. The current name - which includes the Alburni - was established by Law No. 137 of 18 July 2011. The path network covers the entire territory with trekking and mountain bike trails, coastal itineraries and historical routes linked to the Greek and medieval presence. The park's network of museums, including the Cilento Museum Network, coordinates the facilities distributed throughout the park's municipalities.
Information
General Data
Typology: National Park; UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve (since 1997); UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 1998, with Paestum, Velia and Certosa di Padula); UNESCO World Geopark (since 2010, first Italian national park)
Year of establishment: 1991 (Law 6 December 1991, no. 394); park authority: Presidential Decree 5 June 1995; current name: Law 18 July 2011, no. 137; UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve: 1997; UNESCO World Heritage Site: 1998; UNESCO Geopark: 2010
Managing body: Ente Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni
Reference body: Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica
Area: 1.810.48 kmĀ²
Minimum elevation: 0m (sea level)
Maximum elevation: 1,898m
Maximum elevation: 1,898m - Monte Cervati (Monte San Giacomo / Piaggine / Sanza, SA)
Region(s): Campania
Province(s): Salerno
Municipalities involved: Agropoli - Aquara - Ascea - Auletta - Bellosguardo - Buonabitacolo - Camerota - Campora - Cannalonga - Capaccio Paestum - Casal Velino - Casalbuono - Casaletto Spartano - Caselle in Pittari - Castel San Lorenzo - Castelcivita - Castellabate - Castelnuovo Cilento - Celle di Bulgheria - Centola - Ceraso - Cicerale - Controne - Corleto Monforte - Cuccaro Vetere - Felitto - Futani - Gioi - Giungano - Laureana Cilento - Laurino - Laurito - Lustra - Magliano Vetere - Moio della Civitella - Montano Antilia - Montecorice - Monteforte Cilento - Monte San Giacomo - Montesano sulla Marcellana - Morigerati - Novi Velia - Omignano - Orria - Ottati - Padula - Perdifumo - Perito - Petina - Piaggine - Pisciotta - Polla - Pollica - Postiglione - Roccadaspide - Roccagloriosa - Rofrano - Roscigno - Rutino - Sacco - Sala Consilina - Salento - San Giovanni a Piro - San Mauro Cilento - San Mauro La Bruca - San Pietro al Tanagro - San Rufo - Santa Maria di Castellabate - Sant'Angelo a Fasanella - Sant'Arsenio - Sanza - Sapri - Sassano - Serramezzana - Sessa Cilento - Sicignano degli Alburni - Stella Cilento - Stio - Teggiano - Torre Orsaia - Torraca - Tortorella - Trentinara - Valle dell'Angelo - Vallo della Lucania - Vibonati
Official website: https://www.cilentoediano.it