The Vallo di Diano on Foot, between Charterhouses and Caves
The Vallo di Diano is a long, flat basin between the mountains of the Cilento and the Lucanian Apennines, in Campania. Almost everyone crosses it by motorway without stopping, and yet it holds the monumental Charterhouse of Padula and the Pertosa-Auletta Caves: a slow itinerary in a territory people only pass through.
Foto: Carsten Steger (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Wikimedia Commons
The Vallo di Diano is one of those lands that millions of people see every year from the car window and no one visits. The Mediterranean motorway cuts across it entirely, an elongated plain between two curtains of mountains, and those heading down towards Calabria drive through it without a thought. Precisely for this reason the basin has stayed authentic, made of perched towns, cultivated fields and two wonders that alone justify the journey: the Charterhouse of San Lorenzo at Padula and the Pertosa-Auletta Caves.
The Charterhouse of Padula
The heart of the itinerary is the Charterhouse of Padula, one of the largest monastic complexes in Europe, a World Heritage Site. You go in and are struck by the scale: the great cloister is of an almost unreal vastness, the double-flight spiral staircase is a Baroque masterpiece, the kitchen still preserves the legend of the omelette of a thousand eggs prepared for Charles V. You wander for hours without crowds, in a silence that was the one the Carthusian monks intended. The town of Padula, above the charterhouse, is worth a stroll among the alleys and a stop at the house-museum of Joe Petrosino, the Italian-American policeman born here.
From Padula the itinerary climbs back up the basin towards the north. It touches Sala Consilina, the liveliest centre of the Vallo, with its medieval village clinging to the mountain, and then Teggiano, a fortified gem that preserves intact its walls, the Sanseverino castle and a weave of churches and alleys that makes it one of the most beautiful villages in the area. From these heights the gaze embraces the whole plain and the Maddalena mountains that close it off to the east.
The caves
The other pole of the journey is the Pertosa-Auletta Caves, at the northern end of the Vallo. They are among the few caves in Europe that you visit by boat: you enter by sailing an underground river, the Negro, before continuing on foot amid stalactites and concretions. The guided visit accompanies you into the belly of the mountain in an experience that impresses adults and children alike. Outside, along the banks, the remains of a pile-dwelling village have been found, a sign that these places have been inhabited for millennia.
Those who love walking can link these poles with trails and stretches on foot. The Vallo is crossed by paths that climb to the Maddalena mountains and enter the National Park of Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni, of which the whole basin is part. You can stroll along the ancient route of the road that connected the towns, or climb to the ridge sanctuaries that dominate the plain. These are not trails equipped for mass tourism, and this is their merit: you meet farmers, shepherds, rarely other hikers.
How to get there
To get there, the reference is the Padula-Buonabitacolo or Sala Consilina exit on the A2 Mediterranean motorway, the one that descends from Salerno towards Calabria. The caves are convenient from the Petina or Polla exit. Without a car it's hard to reach: there are regional buses that connect the towns, but to truly enjoy the territory the car is the sensible choice, then leaving it in the village car parks and continuing on foot among the alleys.
When to go
The best period is spring, between April and May, when the plain is green, the meadows bloom and the temperature invites you to walk; or October, with the woods changing colour and a clear light that traces the profiles of the mountains. These are months when elsewhere people already fight over a spot, and here instead you visit the charterhouse almost alone and the caves keep a constant, cool temperature all year round. Summer can be muggy in the basin, winter cold and sometimes snowy on the heights.
A practical tip: the temperature inside the caves stays low even in the height of summer, so always bring a sweatshirt for the underground visit, whatever the season outside. And take the time the Vallo asks for: this is not a hit-and-run land, but one to savour with the slowness of those who have understood that the beauty lies precisely in not being in a hurry.
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Practical info
When is the best time to visit The Vallo di Diano on Foot?
The recommended time is April, May and October, when it is less crowded.
Where is The Vallo di Diano on Foot?
The Vallo di Diano on Foot is located in Vallo di Diano, Campania.
