Naples, Salerno, Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Five unique provinces to explore and discover
“Campania is the Italy of your wildest dreams: a rich, intense, hypnotic ragù of Arabesque street life, decadent palaces, pastel-hued villages and aria-inspiring vistas.” This is the brief description that can be found on lonelyplanet.com. Lonely Planet Italia went beyond it and published an entire guide that collects the region’s most exclusive itineraries and hidden treasures. Available through lonelyplanetitalia.it and major Italian bookstores, the 432-page guidebook is the best way to get to know this impressive land. The project was promoted with the contribution of the Campania Region through Scabec, Società Campana Beni Culturali, which did so as part of the campania>artecard project. A regional pass that includes the entire cultural heritage of Campania and offers tourists and residents access to castles and historic houses, churches and monastic complexes, museums and archaeological parks, parks and natural caves.
The project was promoted with the contribution of the Campania Region through Scabec, Società Campana Beni Culturali
Places of culture still little known to the general public, evocative walks along fascinating paths, food and wine tours, and experiences intended for any visitor. This and more in the first guide dedicated to each of the region’s five provinces.
Naples, with its iridescent charm, “the result perhaps of the many cultural influences or of the pulsating rhythm that marks the life of its shrewd inhabitants, accustomed to improvise and to pay more attention to substance than to form.” This is the incipit of the region’s capital chapter. A journey that leads to the history of the main cultural places showing the encounter between sacred and profane of its alleys. Not only Naples but also Campi Flegrei, Vesuvius, the Sorrento Peninsula, the islands of the Gulf.
Salerno, “If you are interested in the wonders of nature, then the Cilento will not fail to surprise you.” The tour of the Salerno area begins from the Cilento coast and goes back up to the city. A stop that anticipates the other beauties of this province, such as the Amalfi Coast, the Vallo di Diano, and the Alburni.
Avellino in Irpinia has “an unconventional beauty” that is “not for everyone.” It is engulfed in a dimension of uniqueness that translates into its ability to transmit the disruptive force of its character. A strongly evocative charge that pervades many other local cultural sites such as the Sanctuary of Montevergine, the Abbey of Goleto, and the natural area of Mefite.
Benevento “is a cornucopia of artistic testimonies of different ages, and, if it were placed in a region less crowded of wonders, it could certainly aspire to a wider notoriety.” Here the journey starts from the “Sant’Agata de’ Goti, titanically clinging to a tuff cliff, passing through Cerreto Sannita, with the secular working of ceramics, and arriving at Telese Terme, known for its thermal baths and gourmet restaurants.”
Caserta, here “the fame of the Royal Palace exceeds that of the city, which has grown over the centuries in the shadow of one of the most sumptuous residences of the Peninsula. But the province of Caserta has such a varied tourist offer that it can satisfy the needs of any traveler.” There are ruins scattered between Capua and Santa Maria Capua Vetere. There is the immaculate mountain of the Matese Regional Park and the disturbing silence of the villages of Sessa Aurunca. You will find frescoed monasteries, castles, and medieval villages.
Ilona Catani Scarlett