Between Monks & Mills: San Nazario
A few kilometres from the renowned coast of Palinuro there is a tiny enchanting village with a very long history.
Just over 200 inhabitants strong, San Nazario has its roots in prehistoric times. Along the Brularo river there are the remains of a settlement dating back to the Copper Age and the Iron Age.
In the early Middle Ages, the iconoclastic persecutions of the Byzantine Emperor pushed many Basilian monks towards Cilento: in San Nazario they founded a monastery, one of the most important in the area, which today is the Church of San Nazario Martire.
In San Nazario, San Nilo was tonsured as a monk: around the year 1000, San Nazario was part of the Mercurion, one of the most important areas of Greek-Eastern monasticism, squeezed between the Lombard Principality of Salerno and Byzantine Calabria.
For this reason, San Nazario is a stage of the San Nilo Trail.
Here the Basilian monks gave great impetus to the economy, starting activities that characterized San Nazario for centuries.
The use of the water from the local streams, easy to find in the area, was wisely adapted to these needs.
They introduced the leather tanning, from which they obtained, among other things, parchment.
They also built a series of watermills, which are still perfectly visible.
The path, called the Path of the Monks, allows visitors to observe those splendid mills.
It is suitable for everyone and very impressive both for the hand of Man and for the naturalistic context in which mills stand, among olive groves, chestnut groves and an amazing view of the Lambro valley and Capo Palinuro.
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