Where the Troezenians prayed: San Giovanni del Tresino
Another place that truly leaves you breathless is the Village of San Giovanni del Tresino, also known as Case di San Giovanni.
It can be reached via various trails, all of which are highly scenic: the view stretches from the sea of Trentova to Punta Pagliarolo. In fact, the village is perched on the ridge of Monte Tresino, within the Trentova-Tresino Oasis.
In this abandoned village where nature has reclaimed its space, the atmosphere is truly surreal. Yet, it is a place with an ancient history.
The Tresino promontory is mentioned by the Greek geographer Strabo, who located the city of Troezen here and reported that in the 6th century B.C., the Troezenians erected a temple dedicated to Poseidon to protect the nearby Poseidonia (the Roman Paestum).
The area's importance continued into the Roman era, as remains of a villa have been found, while in the early Middle Ages it fell under the orbit of the territories administered by the immensely powerful Badia di Cava.
It was perhaps to monitor nearby Agropoli —the Byzantine kastron that became a Saracen ribat in 882 A.D.—that the village of San Giovanni was built around the year 1000.
The first document attesting to its existence dates back to 986: Ligorio di Atrani ceded the church he had built in monte qui dicitur Tirusino (on the mountain called Tresino) to the priest Bernardo.
Then came two papal bulls: one by Gregory VII mentioning Sancti Joannis de Terresino, and one by Urban II in 1089 mentioning in Tirisino monasterium Sancti Joannis.
This village is the birthplace of Abbot Costabile Gentilcore. In 1123, he built the Castello dell’Abate on the nearby Colle dell’Angelo to defend against Saracen attacks, founding the historic center of the beautiful town that now bears his name: Castellabate.
During the Swabian period, Frederick II of Swabia (Stupor Mundi) initiated the construction of several coastal watchtowers: San Marco di Agropoli, Tresino, and Licosa were the ones built in this area.
Under the Angevins and Aragonese, and during the War of the Vespers, San Giovanni suffered destruction and looting by the formidable Almogavars, the assault troops of the Crown of Aragon.
Once rebuilt, it became a fiefdom of the Badia di Cava until it was sold to King Ladislaus of Durazzo in 1412. It was subsequently enfeoffed to the main families of the Cilento, most notably the ever-present and powerful Sanseverinos.
The village remained inhabited until the 20th century.
On September 9, 1943, Tresino—a natural rural balcony over the Gulf of Salerno—witnessed from up close and from above the beginning of one of the military operations that decided the course of World War II: Operation Avalanche, the code name for the Allied landings at Salerno.
Today, this thousand-year-old history survives through the Chapel of San Giovanni—an unfinished 18th century building—a convent, a bell tower, and a few small clusters of houses.
Yet, what truly defines the place is its magical, almost fairytale atmosphere.
Check availability