Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
Bus
CSTP
( 089 48 70 01;
www.cstp.it
)
Bus 34 operates to Paestum from Piazza della
Concordia in Salerno (€3.40, one hour 20 minutes, 12 daily).
Parco Nazionale Del Cilento e Vallo Di Diano
Proving the perfect antidote to the holiday mayhem along the coast, the Parco Nazionale
del Cilento e Vallo di Diano (Cilento National Park and the Valley of Diano), hereafter re-
ferred to as the Parco Nazionale del Cilento, is a compelling combination of dense woods,
flowering meadows, dramatic mountains, and water - lots of it - with streams, rivers and
waterfalls. A World Heritage Site, it is the second-largest national park in Italy, covering a
staggering 1810 sq km, including 80 towns and villages.
Inhabited since prehistoric times, the park's isolation has attracted waves of settlers
seeking refuge over the ages. First, the Greeks fled here when the Romans overran the
towns of Paestum and Velia. Then, early inhabitants of the coastal cities headed inland to
escape piracy and pillaging. Benedictine monks subsequently joined the cultural medley,
seeking secluded places of worship. Next up were the wealthy feudal lords who set up
house (or rather castle) here, from where they could impose their power.
Centuries later, the park was controlled by the feared
briganti
(bandits), which meant it
was a no-go area for Grand Tour visitors. This kept the park out of the tourism loop for
decades and helps explain why it remains so pristine today.
GOING WILD FOR ORCHIDS
The Parco Nazionale del Cilento is a rich natural environment for fauna and flora and has been de-
clared part of Unesco's Biosphere Preservation program. There are a number of extremely rare plant
species here, including the primrose of Palinuro (the symbol of the park). Horticulture enthusiasts will
likely trip over their pitchforks when they hear that there are also some 265 varieties of wild orchid
that flourish annually in the park (the equivalent of 80% of the total number of wild orchid varieties
growing in Europe).
Concentrated in the appropriately named Valle delle Orchidee (Valley of the Orchids), near the pic-
turesque small town of Sassano (9km west of the Certosa di San Lorenzo in Padula), this annual
