A few kilometers to the sea and you arrive at Acciaroli, a fishing village by pure water and with two defensive towers that lean on a soft white sand beach. Acciaroli owes its charm as well as its maze of narrow streets and small shops behind the port in houses built with stones taken from the sea, the legend that here have stayed Ernest Hemingway and right in the picturesque village has conceived his masterpiece “The old Man and the Sea”.
In Poppi the Sea Museum and the Living Museum of the Mediterranean Diet are housed in the eclectic Palace Vinciprova. Within it the possibility of a suggestive visit to the tanks that reproduce the fascinating sea life and plants.
Bend after bend, passed Velia founded in 546 BC by Focei come from Asia Minor, you get to the bustling Marina di Ascea that at the white and long seven and a half kilometers beach alternates cliffs and rocky coves dominated by ancient watchtowers. From Ascea, among olive groves and turns, you arrive at Marina di Pisciotta, a fishing village with the pebble beach famous for fishing for anchovies with fish nets called “menaica” with large mesh for collecting only the biggest specimens. This ancient fishing technique carried night only allows the capture of individuals of the right size that, nervous and flickering, but trapped, quickly lose much blood. To learn more we stopped by Donatella and Vittorio on the seafront at their laboratory salting Menaica’s Anchovies (Via lungomare Colombo, 31 – +39 340 3380231 – a.tartana@gmail.com), a small family business that deals with the processing and sale of these products Presidio Slow Food stored in wooden barrels or earthenware terrines according to ancient traditions. One thing that really impressed us was to note, entering the small room, the list of products for sale with their prices also written in Braille.
To taste them at the table the right address is Ristorante Angiolina (via Passariello 2 , Marina di Pisciotta – , +39 0974.973188 – +39 3331693993 – +39 3406314920 – www.ristoranteangiolina.it – info@ristoranteangiolina.it) where you can taste the dishes of the territory revisited with controlled creativity and a concentrated flavors of this generous land in the starter Enjoyment, Cilento! posing in a single dish goat cheese, white artichoke of Pertosa, Cilento brawn of Gioi, Cicerale chickpeas and salted anchovies menaica.
True jewel of the Cilento is Pisciotta, a picturesque village in the hills that seems to be emerging among senior monumental olive trees up to ten meters, with its compact curtain of houses on which stands the imposing bulk of the baronial castle. One of the most beautiful views from the terrace of the restaurant I Tre Gufi (Via Roma, 14 – +39 0974 973042 – +39 339 3695064 – +39 340 1972316 – www.ristorantetregufi.it – info@ristorantetregufi.it). Our advice? Early dinner with an aperitif can be enjoyed at sunset while the fiery red ball of the sun plunges into the sea. Another splendid view is enjoyed from the B&B La Locanda del Fiume – A ‘Machina, crusher-mill of the’ 700 decorated with refined antique furniture by the owner Sonja Damato, overlooking the small valley carved by the river that separates it from the village (we tell it in our Sogni d’oro: https://www.cittameridiane.it/en/a-pisciotta-in-the-old-mill/). From here, passing over the mill that the road has literally cut in half, you can walk to the center of the village perched at 170 meters high. And if the short walk will put appetite, stop at the Osteria del Borgo (Via Roma, 17 – +39 970 113 0974) for well-cooked local fish and an eggplant parmesan, of course from Cilento, to scream!
