UNESCO: Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archaeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula
Cilento is a cultural landscape of outstanding value that has evidence of human occupation dating from 250,000 years ago. It has been successively occupied over time by farmers during the Neolithic period, by Bronze and Iron Age societies, Etruscans, Greek colonists, Lucanians, and was eventually incorporated into the Roman territory inthe 3rd century BC. Roman road networks replaced the earlier tracks, but after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, these roads fell into disrepair and the ancient network was revived during the Middle Ages, as is evident in the feudal castles and religious establishments built along routes.
The site contains dramatic groups of sanctuaries and settlements extending across three different east-west mountain ridges in the province of Salerno, covering quite a vast area, 159,110ha, including part of the National Park Cilento e Vallo di Diano, the two archaeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the monumental Certosa di Padula.
