The Cilento, Italy's coastal gem south of Rome

Danielle Oteri - writer, art historian, leader of custom itineraries and group tours - is a native New Yorker but grew up with a strong Italian heritage. Danielle was captivated by the many stories her grandma shared with her about her native Cilento and hometown, Capaccio Paestum, where she grew up.
When Danielle finally visited the Cilento she was enchanted by it and in many ways felt that she was returning home. Danielle shared her Cilento stories with me and some of her favorite parts of it.

If you're looking for a gorgeous almost tourist-free coastal gem to visit south of Rome and Naples then the Cilento is for you!

Where is the Cilento?

Here's how Eleonora Baldwin describes the Cilento in her recent Gambero Rosso article: "Cilento is a subregion of Campania located between Paestum and Sapri, on the border with Basilicata. A huge territory, where nature is truly wild, where the population is less than a hundred thousand, and in which rural traditions and a slow, very slow pace of everyday life are carefully preserved. Nature and sea-loving Italy travellers who don’t mind the total absence of designer fashion and yacht slips, will find themselves in a part of southern Italy that has retained its authentic charm through a low profile. Don’t get us wrong, Cilento is packed with historical and archeological destinations, wildly untamed nature and gorgeous beaches." This article is full of great Cilento information so give it a read when you're planning your Cilento trip.
The spectacular Cilento area of Italy is easily accessible if you drive south from Rome towards Naples and just slightly beyond the Amalfi coast. There's no getting away from the fact that the Amalfi Coast is spectacularly beautiful but the Cilento is equally so but without mass tourism.
Wandering Italy has lots of useful information about Cilento and points out: "Over 100km of fine beaches, many of them flying the coveted blue flag indicating exceptionally clean water, are ready to embrace your work-suffering body from April to October."

The Cilento is full of spectacular agricultural sites, most notably the 2800 year-old temples in Paestum.

Other special towns to visit in the Cilento are Castellabate, Acciaroli and the port, Agropoli, and Pioppi where Ancel Keys lived for 28 years. Keys is best known for his study of centenarians in Cilento, and the Mediterranean Diet based on the food and lifestyle of the Cilento people. Keys also live to be 100.

How do you get to the Cilento?

The best way to reach the Cilento is undoubtedly by car. If you fly into Rome you can get a car right at the airport and drive down along the coast. Alternatively take a train from Rome to Salerno and then just outside the station you can pick up a rental car. From there you're about a 30 minute drive from Paestum, the not-to-be-missed Cilento town and temple.
Alternatively hire a private driver. In the Cilento area private drivers are plentiful and quite affordable. And of course if you don't feel like exploring the Cilento area on your own you can join one of Danielle Oteri's twice annual tours of the area. Her tours are based at her family property, Borgo la Pietraia, with Cilento day trips from here.
Here are all the details you need to know on how to get to the Cilento by car, train, bus, boat and private driver.

How did the Cilento get its name?

"The name Cilento derives from the Latin term "Cis Alentum", meaning on the other side of the Alento, a river that flows entirely through Campania region. It comprises no less than 80 municipalities and 8 mountain communities."

What are the typical foods of the Cilento?

There's no doubt that the signature Cilento food is buffalo mozzarella cheese. If you've never tasted buffalo milk gelato put it on your bucket list of foods to try in Cilento.
Tenuta Vannulo is the best known buffalo mozzarella cheese producer, a certified organic farm with over 600 buffaloes. They offer great tours, tastings, and a shop - also online.

Another tasty Cilento cheese is caciocavallo; sometimes it's hung over a grill while meat is grilling and the caciocavallo drizzles on top.

The Cilento has fabulous seafood including tender, succulent polipo.

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There are over a dozen Slow Food Cilento foods you have to try and a great article, Campania: a journey through the flavors, colors and scents of Cilento, details these foods:
"The Menaica Anchovies, typical of Marina di Pisciotta and Pollica, are the first Slow Food product in Campania. The name Menaica comes from the type of fishing that respects the environment. Freshly caught or seasoned in salt, they are a real treat.
The White Artichoke of Pertosa is typical of the hilly town of Vallo di Diano -also famous for the Caves of Pertosa- and in the surrounding areas including the towns of Auletta, Caggiano Pertosa, and Salvitelle.
Among the products most closely linked to Cilento, we find Goat Cacioricotta cheese. It is the product of the pasture of an autochthonous species, called Cilentana goat or Cilento goat, and it is made through two different processing techniques, that of cacio (cheese) and that of ricotta cheese, hence the name. The cheese, in its fresh, semi-seasoned, or seasoned version, is produced in the whole territory of Cilento.
Cicerale Chickpea is a legume coming from western Asia, however, it has had good luck in the municipality of Cicerale. These are organic chickpeas, cultivated without the use of additives or chemicals and, above all, without any kind of irrigation.
Casalbuono Beans, whose ancient origins date back to the fourteenth century AD, represent another typical product and a delicacy of Cilento. In the area of cultivation, precisely Casalbuono, there are seven varieties of beans.
Controne Beans, cultivated in the municipality of Controne, come from very fertile soils rich in carbonates and grow thanks to the numerous aquifers on the massif of the Alburni mountains.
The Fagiolo della Regina di Gorga, another kind of beans with their properties and unmistakable sweet taste. It is a very ancient variety of white climbing bean cultivated in Gorga, a hamlet of the municipality of Stio. In chronological order, it is the latest arrival among the Slow Food products of Cilento.
The Fico monnato of Prignano Cilento is another product that has its origins in the ancient peasant tradition. The term "monnato", which is peeled, derives from the fact that the Fico Bianco del Cilento (White Fig of Cilento) is peeled and dried. It is produced in Prignano Cilento, Ogliastro, Agropoli and Torchiara.
The Fusillo di Felitto is a type of pasta, a sort of hollow cylinder of pasta that can be tasted during the famous Fusillo Festival which takes place in the town of Felitto in the second decade of August. Made with eggs, flour, salt, water, olive oil, it differs from the traditional fusillo from Cilento both for the type of processing and for the length of the pasta (about 20 cm).
The Maracuoccio di Lentiscosa or Maracuoccjo, produced in Lentiscosa in the municipality of Camerota, is a small legume similar to a pea characterized by its squared shape and by a bitterish aftertaste. Used to cook the traditional local dish called maracucciata, it is a legume having an ancient tradition too.
The Mozzarella in Mortella is a fresh cheese originating from mount Gelbison and Novi Velia. Actually, it is not a real mozzarella but a fresh caciocavallo cheese, wrapped in myrtle leaves, mortella in Cilento dialect. A plant used since ancient times, it preserves freshness and gives the cheese special and unmistakable aromatic notes. Produced throughout the Cilento area.
The Olive ammaccate del Cilento are known as a Slow Food product with the name of Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento. They are "ammaccate, that is bruised, crushed one by one with a sea stone, pitted and immersed in water. After passed into a brine solution, they are used for preserved products in oil. They are produced all over Cilento.
The Salsiccia e soppressata del Vallo di Diano (sausage and soppressata, a typical kind of dry salami), produced for hundreds of years, is famous for its deliciousness and the excellent quality of the meat used to make this sausage. It is produced in the whole Vallo di Diano.
The Soppressata di Gioi is the only salami from Campania to be "lardellato" (larded), that is, with a strip of lard inside. This "strand" of lard is as long as the whole soppressata: indescribable goodness. Produced in Gioi, Cardile, Salento, Stio, Gorga, Orria and Piano Vetrale."

More about some of the food & culture of southern Italy and Cilento

Ferretti pasta, a southern Italian eggless pasta
Basilicata, Italy's undiscovered region, shares coastline with the Cilento
Caciocavallo cheese is also produced in the tiny Molise region
All about buffalo mozzarella cheese

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