What is Centola known for?

Cape and frazione named for Aeneas' helmsman in Virgil's poem, with a Bandiera Blu beach and the boat caves of the promontory. Abandoned medieval village on a rock spur in the Mingardo gorge, now a ruin walked for the view rather than inhabited. Inside the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, one of the largest protected areas in southern Italy.

Centola is a comune in the province of Salerno, Campania region of Italy, about 162 kilometers from Salerno.

Campania · Salerno

Centola

A Cilento hill villagewhose seaside frazione, Palinuro, carries the helmsman of Aeneas and a Bandiera Blu coastline.

162 km / 101 mi

Nearest hub (Salerno)

4,983

Population

May–Sep

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Centola sitson a Cilento ridge inside the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, with four frazioni stretched between hill and shore. The most famous of them is Palinuro, on the cape Virgil named for the helmsman of Aeneas in the fifth and sixth books of the Aeneid. The hilltop centro began as a refuge for survivors of ancient Molpa, the coastal city destroyed by the Byzantine general Belisarius in 547 AD; the name likely traces to centum illuc, the hundred who fled uphill. Centola joined the Cilento revolt of 1828 and adopted the Proclamation of Palinuro, then lost most of its population to emigration across the Americas after Unification. The commune holds a Bandiera Blu on the Palinuro coast, sits inside the national park, and belongs to Città del Vino. The hilltop and the cape are seven kilometers apart and seventy meters of climb in between.

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Gallery

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Known for

Centro storico di Centola
Hilltop old town at 336 meters above the Mingardo valley, founded by survivors of ancient Molpa after the Byzantine sack of 547 AD.
Palinuro
Bandiera Blu seaside frazione at Cape Palinuro, named for the helmsman of Aeneas, at the estuaries of the Lambro and Mingardo rivers.
Ruderi di Molpa
Remains of the ancient coastal settlement destroyed by Belisarius in 547 AD, on the promontory above the Mingardo mouth.
San Severino di Centola
Abandoned medieval frazione on a rock spur, with castle ruins and stone houses left empty after twentieth-century depopulation.
Grotte di Capo Palinuro
Sea caves around the cape including the Grotta Azzurra and Grotta dei Monaci, reached by boat from the Palinuro marina.

When to visit

Best months · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May, June, September and early October are the months Palinuro was built for. Water temperature crosses twenty degrees, the boat tours to the Grotta Azzurra run all day, and the centro on the hill stays cool when the marina fills. July and August are the south Italian high season: the beaches fill, the SP562 backs up between Palinuro and Marina di Camerota, and prices climb. November through March is quiet. Many seasonal restaurants close along the coast and the cape can take winter storms hard. The hilltop centro at 336 meters keeps its bakeries and bars open through the off months, which is when locals get the cape back.