Gastronomia

The Cilento, land of peasant culture and traditions, offers a traditional cuisine based on its wonderful local produce, delicacies of the palate, high quality, authentic products that are the basis of the famous Mediterranean diet.

Buffalo Mozzarella

Caciocavallo Podolico

Podolica cow, descending from Bos Primigenius, lives in the inland areas of Southern Italy, including Cilento e Vallo di Diano National Park. Caciocavallo prepared with its milk has been named after this cow; however, according to some hypotheses, it comes from the provola maturation process carried out astride horizontal poles, thus "cacio a cavallo".
It has a thin and smooth rind with a color going from white alabaster for greener cheese to amber yellow. Its texture, with an intense yellow color when the cheese is mature, is compact, without holes nor fissures. The taste is sweet and a little sapid if made with calf rennet or when the product is still green, more intense and slightly spicy if made with kid rennet.

Cacioricotta

Cacioricotta is a characteristic cheese of Cilento e Vallo di Diano National Park. It is obtained from mixed goat and sheep milk or only from goat milk, in the period between June and August, at the end of the sheep lactation. It has been named after its production technique.
It has a cylindrical shape with flat sides and a slightly wrinkled crust. The color goes from off-white to straw yellow. It has a compact texture, without holes, and slightly granulous. It has an intense taste and can be eaten fresh or grated on pasta.

Bacon, long or longarella

It is a bacon flavored for the production of which is used liberal doses of pepper or sweet pepper (dried). They are often also added pepper, garlic, fennel, parsley and other herbs. Once the preparation you can leave it lying (hence the name or longarella longa) or you can 'roll up and tie (work done by hand and with due care to avoid air infiltration). It 's a lot of fat salami and consequently once hung is aged for a minimum period of six months (often more' than a year).

Soppressata of Gioi

Deep red, is lean and compact with a central lard. It 's a very old product that takes its name from the village of joy in which is produced during the cold season. You use nobles meat and fat of the pig properly selected, chopped and seasoned with salt and pepper. At the center of the meat is then inserted by hand a strip of bacon and everything is left to rest for ten hours before being bagged. We then move on to aging, in some cases preceded by a phase of smoking. To enjoy the most of its characteristic taste, the brawn must be sliced ​​very thin, almost transparent.

Bean Controne

The bean Controne is renowned for its excellent nutritional qualities and for its delicate flavor.Its thin skin makes it easily digested. Looking small and round, its color is white, with no stain. He has a long and ancient tradition, and every year in November, a festival is held in the country Controne at which you can taste the prized beans in the most varied (tozzetto beans, beans with escarole, the classic pasta and beans, etc).

Anchovies

The menaica, menaide in Italian, is a network of fishing for blue fish, used in the past even by the Greeks, which allows you to select the larger anchovies. This type of fishing is still practiced by a few fishermen in Pisciotta is done at night and on days of calm seas. Anchovies fished at dawn in the rooms are cleaned and placed in jars of clay (alternating layers of the fish in coarse sea salt).Salting is a technique related to the ancient tradition of Pisciotta. The anchovies have a great taste and value are distinguished by their clear pinkish meat.

White fig Cilento

Introduced by the Greeks in the sixth century BC, the white fig has become one of the most important local products of the Cilento. Fine food, the yellow skin and wrinkled, it is both fresh and dried. All phases of its work takes place entirely within the geographical area of ​​production of small businesses. It is harvested between August and September and put on sale in December. Figs (sometimes after being boiled in water flavored with bay leaves, fennel or other natural oils) become dry and baked in the oven. They can be served au naturel or packed (stuffed with walnuts, almonds, orange peel or lemon, fennel and mandarin segments). Then they are "fences" (skewered with wooden skewers) or stored in wicker baskets. Try it coated with dark chocolate.

Chestnuts

Cilento, an area very rich in vegetation and above all in forests, is very important also for the production of chestnuts. Roccadaspide chestnuts (also called marroni di Roccadaspide) are very famous, together with Alburni chestnuts. They have a medium size and a compact and rather sweet pulp, covered by a membrane you can easily take off. The tree provides tannin, used for the skin tanning, and a good timber used in the past to build railway lines, telephone poles, fences, and furniture. Chestnuts were a product both for the rich and the poor. The former prepared with them refined recipes, while the latter appreciated them for their high nutritional value. From chestnuts it is possible to obtain a flour which lasts long without deteriorating and, therefore, ideal to feed the troops in case of war. The tree was probably introduced in Italy and Europe by the Romans, but it was in the Middle Ages that the tireless monks created large cultivations both in the mountains and in the hills.

Paestum Globe Artichoke PGI

Paestum Globe Artichoke is cultivated in Piana del Sele, in particular in the Municipalities of Eboli, Pontecagnano, Battipaglia, and Capaccio. It is a medium-sized artichoke (four flower heads per kilo), has a green color with violet shades, spherical and compact shape (the outer bracts are well closed).

PDO Extra-virgin Olive Oils

Entering in Cilento e Vallo di Diano National Park is like entering in a big olive grove: as a matter of fact, every Municipality, both in the mountains and along the coast, is rich in centuries-old and new olive trees. They give the landscape a velveted green color and ensure the local people an essential income since ancient times. The Park olive growers did not remain indifferent when, in 1992, the law 169 on the Designations of Origin was issued: as a matter of fact, they immediately started the procedures for the recognition of two designations: Cilento and Colline Salernitane. After a long course, they have been recognized by the European Union as PDO and have been valid since the 98/99 olive-growing campaign. Cilento PDO covers the southern and western area of the Park, while Colline Salernitane PDO covers the northern area of the Park.
The cultivation systems have never used insecticides in the production of oil olives. For this reason, the area is rich in certified holdings using organic methods: thanks to the new methods experimented in the Park, organic farming has considerably increased the quality of the extra-virgin olive oil produced here.

Cilento Wines

The clay and limestone soil and climate of the Cilento special permit to obtain wines of high quality. In the park area we have two Doc: Cilento and Castel San Lorenzo. The DOC Cilento includes four wines: Red, Rosé, White and Aglianico. Concerning the DOC Castel San Lorenzo instead we have Red, White, Rose, Moscato Spumante, Moscato Lambiccato, Barbera and Barbera Reserve. Is organized each year at the feast of Castel San Lorenzo 7 Doc linking to taste the delicious local dishes of the same.

Artigianato

Passato e presente dell'artigianato locale - Nel corso dei secoli, l'artigianato – nato dalla necessità di produrre per sé utensili e quant’altro potesse servire nella vita quotidiana di contadini, fabbri, cestai, ecc. – si è sviluppato fino a condurre sulla via della specializzazione innumerevoli maestri del ‘fai da te’: questi si sono così trasformati in veri e propri maestri cestai, falegnami, fabbri, scalpellini e ceramisti che hanno tramandato fino ai nostri giorni la passione per l’artigianato e per l’arte. Vi sono maestri scalpellini nel Vallo di Diano, artigiani della pietra a Centola, artigiani del ferro battuto nell’area del Bussento, maestri d'ascia nei cantieri presenti lungo tutto il litorale del Cilento, falegnami che modellano il castagno e il faggio nel Cilento interno, ceramisti del Montestella e del Mingardo che perpetuano le fogge degli antichi maestri della Magna Grecia, cestai lungo l’Alento, ricamatrici nel basso Cilento.
Arti e mestieri antichi vanno via via recuperando dignità all’interno dell’area protetta del Parco nazionale del Cilento, l’area che in natura offre a questi artigiani-artisti la materia prima per il loro lavoro: vimini, legno, pietra, ecc..