A magnificent combined result of the work of nature and man. Situated on the coast in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Cilento is the perfect synthesis of coexistence between nature and culture, a place of exchange and contamination. It is today a living landscape that maintains an active role in contemporary society but retains the traditional characters that have generated, the organization of the territory, in the path plot, in the structure of the crops and in the settlements system. The Cilento realizes the encounter between sea and mountains, Atlantic and East, Nordic and African cultures, It fuses peoples and civilizations and retains traces evident in its distinctive character: archeology, the nature, the traditions. The first human settlements date back to the Middle Paleolithic and continue throughout the Neolithic up to the Copper Age. The presence of these ancient cultures is evidenced by the traces left both coastal caves between Palinuro and Scario, both in the internal ones of the ridge along the paths of upland as the Caves of Castelcivita, both the Vallo di Diano Pertosa, nelle Grotte dell’Angelo. Testimonials Bronze Age are sacrificial altars and the rock sculptures along the streets from the Tyrrhenian to the Ionian. Around the seventeenth century B.C.. They landed on the coast of Cilento Greeks who formed the city of Poseidonia. From the sea then came the Asia Minor Focei who founded Velia and Porta Rosa. During the fourth century B.C.. The Romans used this area for trade and for trade but, with the fall of the Western Roman Empire (Sixth century A.D.) He began the long period of barbarian domination of the Visigoths, Goths, Lombards and the continuous attacks of the Saracens. This meeting / clash between different cultures brought about the emergence of architectural and artistic complex of great beauty as the Abbey of Pattano with the Chapel of St. Philadelphus or the frescoes in the Chapel in Basiliana Lentiscosa. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the whole territory was divided among the nobles who helped to make this earth a place of cruel business. The Cilento has a varied and complex morphology. At the idrogeografico basin of the river Alento and the main mountains of western Cilento is a rock that is called Flysch of Cilento. On the coast the high Flysch is characterized by the stratification of rocks by special colors and for the landscape with a strong presence of the Mediterranean arborea. In the park there are about 1800 species of native spontaneous plants, among which stands out the Primula Palinuro, the symbol of the Park. The Mediterranean covers the coastal area along with the olive trees and evergreen forests. In the higher altitudes and in the interior rise oaks, aceri, tigli, olmi, ash and chestnut, while, at higher altitudes, the beech forests covering the mountains. Higher up is the very rare Barberry shrub Etna. Given the impressive variety of morphology and the park's flora, it is not strange to consider the presence of a rich and diverse fauna. In mountainous areas are the Golden Eagles and some of its prey such as the Hare appenninica and Coturnice. The presence of these two species is very important from a biological point of view as they represent Apennine native animal forms now extinct in many parts of the territory. Among the pastures there are wolves, foxes and martens.

UNESCO admission criteria

The World Heritage Committee decided in 1992 to enter the National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano with archaeological sites of Paestum and Velia and the Certosa di Padula in the List of World Heritage List based on the following criteria: (iii) during prehistoric times and the Middle Ages, the Cilento region was the main passage for cultural communications, and trade policies in a particular way, that is, through the ridges of mountain ranges that run from east to west, thus creating a remarkable cultural landscape significance and quality; (iv) in two key moments in the development of human societies in the Mediterranean as a region, Cilento area has been the only existing way of communication between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian in the central Mediterranean region, and this is clearly illustrated by what remains today of the cultural landscape.

History, art and culture

Located in the center between the Amalfi coast and Cilento, Salerno lived a rich history of events and peoples. The Greeks to import the orchards on territory, olive trees and crops of wheat and wheat. following (197 a.C.) It became a Roman colony. In the Middle Ages suffered the Lombard rule. To escape the will of Charlemagne, in 786, Arechi II transferred the seat of the Duchy of Benevento to Salerno trying to secure control of a strategic area. He fortify the city, already it has a castle Salerno and soon became the seat of a principality as well as a strong political center. Si istituì anche la Scuola Medica, the oldest institution of its kind in Europe. But with the Normans, and in particular with Roberto Guiscard, Salerno which enjoyed its heyday (XI-XII century). In this period, the Cathedral and the Palace of Castel Terracena, while the Medical School assumed more and more importance. The economic revival occurred in the mid-twelfth century with the occupation Swabian; in this period was the construction of the pier by Manfredi, son of Frederick II. After the fourteenth century took over the principles of Sanseverino, the most powerful feudal lords of the south who did get to Salerno men of the highest culture and great artists. from il 1656 and the 1694, Salerno fu colpita da peste e terremoti. Thus he began one of the darkest periods in the history of this land which will end only after the eighteenth century with the end of the Spanish Empire. In 1799 the city became part of the Neapolitan Republic and, during the Napoleonic period, he ordered the suppression of the Medical School and all religious orders. From this moment on, there was the new town expanding beyond the walls, phenomenon that lasted even after the unification of Italy and lasted until the Second World War. In 1943 Salerno witnessed the Allied landing and 1944 It was the seat of government Badoglio. Today, the city, It presents three clearly distinguishable nuclei: the medieval area, on the slope of the hill that develops on the Via dei Mercanti, and the modern part which has two faces, the nineteenth-century with an expansion orderly and regular, and one that dates back to the last war, with crowded buildings and disordered. From an economic standpoint Salerno is a center of agricultural trade and industrial center (textile industries, mechanical, food, wood and ceramics). Being in the center of two beautiful coasts (Amalfi and Cilento) It is also an important communication hub.