CILENTO AND VALLO DI DIANO: AN INTRODUCTION
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The Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni is the second largest park in Italy, located within the confines of the province of Salerno, region of Campania. The park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. The landscape ranges from the wide valley of Vallo di Diano to mountainous Cilento Forest to the breathtaking wild coast.
This region is in many ways a world apart from perhaps better-known landscapes of Tuscany or Lazio (Rome), or regions further north. Lacking the kind of infrastructure that makes those places easily accessible and more open to the rest of the world, this area of Southern Italy remains somewhat isolated; foreign tourists are still quite rare. Most people here do not speak English. In fact, many don't even speak much Italian, but use rather the local dialect: a set of languages that change from town to town. |
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Most of the villages that dot the hilltops, many of which can trace their origins back to the early medieval period, if not to the earlier settlements of the Lucanian people, have been losing their populations at an alarming rate in the past 25 years, due almost entirely to the flight of the younger generations to larger towns and cities. While the economic challenges that this region currently faces are complex, the richness of the history, culture and natural beauty is astounding.
The earliest evidence of human occupation (primitive man) in this region dates from 500,000 BC. It has been successively inhabited over time during the Neolithic period, during the Bronze and Iron Ages, by the Etruscans, Greek colonists and Lucanians. It was incorporated into the Roman territory in the 3rd century BC. The fall of Rome was followed by a long period of Barbarian domination by various factions including the Visigoths, Longobards and Saracens, until the Normans conquered the region in 1076, after which several hundred years of feudal strife ensued. During the Risorgimento or Unification period between 1815 and 1871, which ultimately united Italy into one nation, this under-represented and impoverished region was overrun by brigands, rebels and secret societies, giving birth to some of the best-loved legends of the area.
The earliest evidence of human occupation (primitive man) in this region dates from 500,000 BC. It has been successively inhabited over time during the Neolithic period, during the Bronze and Iron Ages, by the Etruscans, Greek colonists and Lucanians. It was incorporated into the Roman territory in the 3rd century BC. The fall of Rome was followed by a long period of Barbarian domination by various factions including the Visigoths, Longobards and Saracens, until the Normans conquered the region in 1076, after which several hundred years of feudal strife ensued. During the Risorgimento or Unification period between 1815 and 1871, which ultimately united Italy into one nation, this under-represented and impoverished region was overrun by brigands, rebels and secret societies, giving birth to some of the best-loved legends of the area.