In the end we decided: after these months of pandemic and closure at home, we inaugurated our summer with a short holiday in Cilento, the southern part of the province of Salerno, as beautiful in the landscapes as it is inaccessible in the streets. Our "base camp" was the Santo Mercurio Country House (http://www.santomercurio.com) in the municipality of Pisciotta; from there we moved to places like Marina di Camerota, Palinuro, Ceraso, Acciaroli, Roccagloriosa, to conclude, on the way home, with a visit to our beloved Paestum. But let's start right from base camp, because the Santo Mercurio Country House is such a beautiful and comfortable structure that it deserves a detailed description. It is a farmhouse belonging to the family of Mr. Vito Puglia, who first created a wine shop and restaurant, the Osteria Perbacco, which in more than thirty years has built a solid reputation for its splendid local cuisine; then came the country house, which currently has three rooms, one of which, the Elea, where we stayed, very large and equipped with facilities for the disabled. All immersed in the olive trees of this property sloping down towards the marina of Pisciotta, with a breeze that mitigates the effects of the summer heat and above all with an incredible panorama, which can be enjoyed from a beautiful terrace available to guests:
A stone's throw from the rooms is the tavern, where you have breakfast and if you want, you can have lunch or dinner, always with a sea view:
These are the Marina Campagna vermicelli, the most original dish of the tavern, with anchovies, cherry tomatoes, fennel, green chillies:
and this is the wine shop:
A few kilometers from Santo Mercurio there is Marina di Pisciotta, a small village where you can walk, even on the pier, stop at a bar and buy typical Pisciotta products, such as menaica anchovies, scazzate olives, fig jam, tuna pate and even a local version of anchovy sauce:
And this is the medieval village of Pisciotta, unfortunately inaccessible for us, seen from the marina:
About twenty kilometers from Santo Mercurio, with a mountain road surrounded by greenery and with its good fountains, there is the village of Ceraso, where it is pleasant to move around in a wheelchair in the well-paved alleys:
A visit to Marina di Camerota, a fashionable resort full of hotels and villages, with a very extensive and generally accessible coastline. At the port we asked for information at the boat trip kiosks, and they all confirmed their willingness to embark people in wheelchairs by lifting them and placing them in the boat, to take them to see the coast with beautiful caves and beaches:
Acciaroli is a smaller and more intimate town than Marina di Camerota, but no less important from a tourist point of view, starting with this beautiful coast, long and wide, equipped among other things with some hotels accessible directly on the sea:
We walked in the pretty pedestrian area, very convenient with the Triride:
The port area also has an accessible beach:
We took another nice walk with the Triride on the pier; you access and descend from the upper level with special ramps, while at sea level there are bars and shops, some still under construction, as well as toilets equipped for the disabled. Let's start with the typical image of the port of Acciaroli, the Norman Tower and the Church of the Annunziata:
The Madonna with the signs of devotion in her hand, including a mask:
We took a completely different walk in Roccagloriosa, an inland town that is important from an archaeological point of view, because a Lucanian settlement with its necropolis dating back to the 5th century BC was discovered in its territory. Confidently following the signs for the archaeological area, you can arrive by car to the most important of the tombs (the others are on a pedestrian path that is inaccessible to us):
And we conclude with our tour to Paestum, made on the way back; both the archaeological area and the museum have been reopened with rigorous access procedures, which include temperature measurement, access shifts and distancing. The Temple of Neptune:
The Sand Horse by Mimmo Paladino:
The Basilica:
The Temple of Ceres:
In short, the temples are in their place, parking spaces for the disabled have been increased, the recovery seems to have started; the museum is also working at full capacity, with new lighting for the Tomb of the Diver and a beautiful setting for the other decorated tombs:
As for the restaurants, in addition to the Osteria Perbacco attached to the Country House Santo Mercurio, we would like to point out a discovery and a confirmation. The discovery is: U Trappitu (*): Via del Mare 51, Acquavena, Roccagloriosa +39 0974 98016 facebook ù trappitu Confirmation is: Nonna Sceppa (*): Via Laura 45, Capaccio Paestum +39 0828 851064 www.nonnasceppa.com where we tasted this specialty, the roasted razor clams:
(*) symbol indicating the presence of toilets equipped for the disabled