Cilento National Park and Certosa di Padula
Cilento National Park and Certosa di Padula is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Salerno audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~240 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type nature
- Suggested visit ~240 min
- Salerno Salerno guide
About Cilento National Park and Certosa di Padula
A vast UNESCO World Heritage landscape south of Salerno, the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park covers 181,000 hectares of Mediterranean wilderness, mountains, and ancient Greek sites, with the Certosa di Padula (the largest Carthusian monastery in Italy) as its most spectacular monument.
The Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park (Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni) is the second-largest national park in Italy, covering a mountainous peninsula that juts southward from the Salerno plain into the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 for its exceptional natural landscape and for containing within it the major archaeological sites of Paestum and Velia (ancient Greek Elea). The park is largely unindustrialised and sparsely populated, one of the most genuinely wild and unspoiled landscapes in mainland Italy. The Certosa di Padula (the Charterhouse of San Lorenzo at Padula), in the Vallo di Diano valley on the eastern edge of the park, is the largest Carthusian monastery in Italy and one of the largest in the world. Founded in 1306, it was expanded repeatedly over the following centuries into a vast complex of 320 rooms, 13 courtyards, and a kitchen garden of 25,000 square metres, arranged around a central cloister of extraordinary dimensions. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Paestum in 1998.
Did you know? The Certosa di Padula was founded in 1306 by Tommaso Sanseverino, Count of Marsico, on behalf of his lord Philip I of Anjou, the donation was made as a thanksgiving for Philip's victory over the rebels who had challenged his rule in the Kingdom of Naples. The counts of Sanseverino were the dominant feudal family of the Cilento for centuries.
How long should you spend at Cilento National Park and Certosa di Padula?
Plan about ~240 min at Cilento National Park and Certosa di Padula. That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is Cilento National Park and Certosa di Padula worth visiting?
Cilento National Park and Certosa di Padula is one of the 17 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Salerno, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Nearby stops in Salerno
Hear the story of Cilento National Park and Certosa di Padula
Preview the Salerno tour free in the Gingerguide app.