The Cilento National Park and Vallo di Diano and Alburni preserves a priceless heritage, result of thousands of years old and harmonious interactions between natural and man-made. Quest'armonica integration between Nature and Culture has transformed the territory of the protected area in a complex biogeographic: Greek cities and ancient historical centers, vetuste abbeys, castles, fortresses and houses are set in unspoilt nature, rich in rare plants and animals, majestic forests cared for by painstaking hand of Man and natural caves that are still present testimony of our Paleolithic ancestors.
The park is located at the center of Mediterranean, "Middle ground", and this sea embodies the spirit deeper, the richness in terms of biodiversity, is the meeting between sea and mountains, East and West, northern cultures and African cultures. The work done by the Park in the dissemination of its features has resulted in prestigious international awards including the “Green Globe” for tourism, the European diploma on Biodiversity and the most important awards: the inclusion in the network of Biosphere Reserves the MAB program of UNESCO and especially the inclusion, for the first time granted to a Mediterranean Park, in the exclusive list of UNESCO World Heritage Site, as a "cultural landscape" of global significance.
With its 181.048 hectares of protected land occupies the southern part of Campania, the border with Basilicata. The Park includes 80 Municipalities, with a population at 2007 of about 270 thousand inhabitants, to which must be added the 15 common of the "contiguous areas", and is characterized by the alternation of areas with a high degree of depopulation and territories with high anthropic; a real "living laboratory" experiment where all activities compatible with the environment, designed to demonstrate how to combine nature conservation and biodiversity with social development, cultural and economic development of the local community.
