The mountain and the two seas
A short distance from the sea of Palinuro — about 20 minutes by car — you can visit a beautiful mountain village.
Montano Antilia is the municipality located at the highest altitude of Cilento. From the top of its position, it enjoys a spectacular panorama: it is the mountain that overlooks two seas, the one of Palinuro and the Gulf of Policastro, below it the entire Mingardo valley and the outline of Mount Bulgheria.
The town rises along the woods of Mount Antilia, between the spurs of Mount Gelbison and the Serrapotamo stream.
To the attentive observer, these names alone give a sense of how rich in history it is: Antilia, from the ancient Greek Ante Elios: “placed in front of the Sun”; Gelbison from the Arabic Gebel — El — son: “the mountain of the Idol, the sacred mountain”; Serrapotamo, from the fusion of the Arabic Sa'ra: “uncultivated land”, with the Byzantine Greek Pòtamo: “river”, or “river that flows between uncultivated lands”.
And in fact the Byzantine Greeks built the village on the remains of a previous Roman settlement. As for many towns in Cilento, the arrival of the Italian-Greek monks meant a rebirth: the territory of Montano Antilia had been raided by the Saracens, but thereafter, it rose again as an agricultural village.
Its geographical position favoured its development: it was located on the crucial Via del Sale (Salt Route), a commercial route that connected the “granaries” of the Hegumens, (Eremiti, Castinatelli, Cuccaro Vetere, Massicelle), with the coast of Policastro. For this reason, it had to beware of Saracen raids for centuries.
Its long history is clearly visible in its streets and its buildings. The architecture is typically defensive: leaning houses, narrow streets and alleys. The Mother Church of 1493, which houses valuable frescoes of the eighteenth century, is the most recent. This is another typical feature of Montano: it was formed as an agricultural village without a church, but with four chapels at the four cardinal points. For this reason, it is a typical example of universitas that historians call a core villa.
There are precious buildings from the Spanish period, markedly from the 18th century, a sign of the important families to which they belonged (Pignatelli, Monforte, Pitta, Lettieri): their coats of arms are perfectly visible.
The walk in this magnificent village, where phototrekking lovers can really find a thousand ideas, allows you to know another of the secrets of Cilento: in this small village that is a microscopic dot on the map, there is a Holy Stairs modelled on the Holy Stairs in Rome.
The pilgrims who visit it on the Friday of Lent, on Good Friday and in the Jubilee Year are granted the same indulgences granted to pilgrims who visit the Holy Stairs in Rome. An incredible and unknown added value for a walk that regenerates and enriches!
Periodo: tutto l’anno
Adatta a: tutti
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