On the Path of the Lucani

A journey into the heart of the inner Cilento

On the Path of the Lucani is not a festival or a concert: it is a hiking and cultural trail that crosses the inner Cilento on foot, the most secluded and mountainous part of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park. The initiative is promoted as part of the Campania Region's INFEA network—the regional system for environmental information and education—with the stated goal of enhancing the environmental and historical heritage of a territory that mass tourism, concentrated on the Cilento coast, tends to overlook.

The headquarters is Roscigno Vecchia, in the municipality of Roscigno, in the province of Salerno, Campania. Each day begins in Piazza Giovanni Nicotera, the old village's living-room square, with participant registration and the departure of groups toward the trails.

The stages: from Roscigno Vecchia to the Gole del Sammaro

The walk is divided into three stages that touch some of the most evocative places in the area:

• Roscigno Vecchia — the starting point, an abandoned village and open-air museum;
• Sacco Vecchia — the ancient core of the nearby municipality of Sacco, overlooking the valley;
• Monte Pruno — the height that dominates the modern town of Roscigno;
• Prastia area and the Ripiti river;
• Gole del Sammaro — the gorge carved by the stream between limestone walls, one of the most photographed images of the southern Alburni.

This is not a timed sporting trek: the pace is that of a slow walk, with stops, explanations, and time to look around.

Monte Pruno and the legacy of the Lucani

The event's name is not just a literary flourish. Monte Pruno was an important Italic and Lucanian center, positioned to control the passage between the Paestum plain and the Vallo di Diano; the site has yielded famous princely burials from the 5th century BC, including a set of silver tableware with gold applications, now kept at the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Salerno. Walking "on the path of the Lucani" therefore means retracing, at least ideally, the axes that this pre-Roman people used to move between mountain and plain.

Evening round tables

The formula alternates days of walking and evenings of discussion. Each evening, a round table concludes the stage with a different theme: experiential tourism, promoting the Path of the Lucani as a tourist resource, and development strategies for the territory. This is the part that distinguishes this event from a simple guided excursion: administrators, operators, associations, and hikers sit at the same table after having traveled the same paths together.

Roscigno Vecchia, the village that stood still

The charm of the event owes much to its logistical base. Roscigno Vecchia is an 18th-century settlement progressively abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century due to repeated landslides: the houses, the circular fountain with the washhouse, and the church of San Nicola have remained in place, emptied. The village now houses the Museum of Peasant Civilization and has been chosen several times as a film set. It is one of the few places in Italy where you can cross an intact 19th-century square without encountering a car.

Who it is for

The event is aimed at hikers who are not necessarily highly trained, families with children accustomed to walking, those involved in sustainable tourism, and anyone who wants to discover the inner Cilento far from the beaten path. Participation is free, but by reservation: places are limited by the very nature of the trails covered.