Campania · Salerno
Castellabate
A 1123 abbot's castle on a 280-meter Cilento ridge, with a Bandiera Blu beach below and the Benvenuti al Sud film.
Known for
ABBOT'S CASTLE
Castle built from 1123 by Saint Costabile Gentilcore, abbot of the Trinità della Cava, around which the hilltown grew and to which it owes its name.
BENVENUTI AL SUD
Setting of the 2010 Luca Miniero film that turned the village into a national reference for southern Italian hospitality and stereotype reversal.
BANDIERA BLU
Blue Flag bay between Santa Maria and Punta Licosa, inside the Cilento protected marine area, with sand and clear water below the borgo.
When to visit
Best · May–Sep
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
The festa: Costabile Gentilcore, 17 February
Why come
Castellabate is the borgo above and the beach below, on a Cilento ridge thirty kilometres south of Salerno. The hilltown takes its name from the Castello dell'Angelo built by Costabile Gentilcore, fourth abbot of the Trinità della Cava, who laid the first stone on 10 October 1123. Castrum Abbatis, the abbot's castle, gave the place its present name.
The hamlets below, Santa Maria, San Marco, Ogliastro Marina and Licosa, run along the bay where the Saracens were defeated in 846 by a coalition of Naples, Amalfi, Sorrento and Gaeta. Castellabate is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia, a Bandiera Blu commune of about nine thousand residents inside the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park. The Punta Licosa promontory, named after the Siren Leucosia of Greek legend, is the southern boundary of the protected marine area. The 2010 film Benvenuti al Sud, shot here, brought the village to a national audience.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Castellabate’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Castello dell'Abate
Castle begun on 10 October 1123 by Saint Costabile Gentilcore, fourth abbot of the Trinità della Cava, gave the village its name as Castrum Abbatis.
Centro storico di Castellabate
Hilltop borgo at 280 meters, one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia, stone alleys around the castle and views down to the bay and Punta Licosa.
Basilica Pontificia di Santa Maria de Gulia
Twelfth-century mother church at Santa Maria di Castellabate, raised to pontifical basilica in the twentieth century, with a wooden statue of the Madonna.
Punta Licosa
Promontory and small offshore island named after the Siren Leucosia of Greek legend, the southern boundary of the Cilento protected marine area.
Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni National Park
UNESCO Mediterranean Diet biosphere reserve, with the Monte Stella ridge inland of Castellabate and the marine area extending to Agropoli.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 8,677
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Naples / Salerno, 2 h 1 min drive
- Regional capital Napoli, 2 h 1 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 280 m
- Population: 8,677
- Surface area: 37.43 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Castellabate
Agropoli
Province: Salerno
The gateway commune of the Cilento, a Byzantine acropolis on a promontory taken by the Saracens in 882 as a base for raids on Salerno.
Perito
Province: Salerno
A Cilento ridge town at 480 meters above the Alento valley, once a center of black-powder production for hunting, defense and brigands.
Capaccio Paestum
Province: Salerno
Three Doric temples of 550 to 450 BC on the Sele plain, with mozzarella di bufala DOP on the buffalo flats below Monte Calpazio.
Trentinara
Province: Salerno
A Cilento balcony at 606 meters on the Cantenna cliff, called the Terrazza del Cilento, with a 1,500-meter zipline that drops 170 meters toward Paestum.
Ascea
Province: Salerno
Two villages, a hilltown at 230 meters and a Cilento marina, with Parmenides and Zeno's Eleatic school in the ruins of Greek Velia below.
🎨 Borghi più belli d'Italia
More Borghi più belli d'Italia towns in Campania
Atrani
Province: Salerno
The smallest commune in Italy by area, twelve hectares of stacked houses where the Amalfi Coast pinches shut around a single piazza.
Conca dei Marini
Province: Salerno
A coastal hamlet of 664 people on the Amalfi Coast, the birthplace of the sfogliatella Santa Rosa and home to the Emerald Grotto.
Cusano Mutri
Province: Benevento
A Sannio hill borgo at 475 meters on the south face of the Matese, the only town in the area spared by the 1688 earthquake.
Frigento
Province: Avellino
An Irpinia hill village at 911 meters with a Republican-era Roman cistern complex on its summit and four valleys at its feet.
Furore
Province: Salerno
The Amalfi Coast village with no piazza and no center, scattered on rock walls 300 meters above the only fjord in southern Italy.