Untouched nature

: Wolves in the National Park - the large forests of the Alburni and Cervati area are their preferred habitats.

So far the Cilento has managed to evade the enticement of mass tourism. It therefore shows itself as a largely intact piece of nature. Great parts of it were declared National Park in 1991 - an area of 1,810 square kilometres from the Alburni mountains in the north down to the coast in the south.

Ever since the area is under protection, the world of animals and plants has become even richer and more varied. Today it covers many different kinds of woodpeckers, warblers, herons, eagles, but also butterflies, boars, foxes, wolves and otters (in fact, on the 3.4 km of the Calore Gorge near Felitto more than 60 percent of Italian otters!); from violets, anemones to all kinds of primroses (Primula Palinuro!).

Near Marina di Camerota in the south and near Santa Maria di Castellabate in the north there are oceanic parks.

In the Cilento resp. on its borders, the international environmental organisation WWF maintains two protectorates:

: Indicating a superb water quality - most of Italy´s otters live in the Calore Gorge.

The symbol of the "Parco del Persano" (near Serre, north of the Cilento) is the otter, a biological indicator for the quality of water and habitat. Observing the "Master of the River" is no easy task, but its traces can be discovered all over the place. Willows, alders and reeds are typical for the vegetation near the River Sele; but also poplars, daffodils, irises grow in the protectorate. Other mammals living here are fitchews, weasels, badgers and wild boars. During the winter season you can find thousands of aquatic birds like herons, cormorants and ducks, in the spring even the kite. In the waters a rich water fauna is bustling.

Near Morigerati in southern Cilento there is "Parco del Bussento", founded in 1995. At the bottom of a gorge, embedded in impressive landscape, runs the Bussento. Its shores are covered with mosses, ferns, willows and alders. Holm oaks, ash trees and the macchia embellish its slopes. Many animal species, sometimes endangered, prove that this valuable ecosystem must be protected. Even wild cats, wolves live in the woods, hawks, kestrels and kites in the air, trouts, crayfish, crabs and otters in the waters of the Bussento.

Both WWF projects can be visited.