TRENTINARA, Campania — This February, the medieval village of Trentinara in Cilento National Park, Campania, is marking Valentine’s Day with its annual “Innamorati a Trentinara” festival. Ancient lanes fill with themed lights, music, craft markets, and food and wine trails. Perched 600 metres above sea level on a rocky spur, the village commands sweeping panoramas stretching from the Amalfi Coast and the island of Capri to the ancient Greek temples of Paestum on the plains below. On clear days, the effect is close to absurd.
Even so, at the soul of Trentinara is a cautionary tale. The village is bound to the story of Saul and Isabella -described locally as the Romeo and Juliet of Cilento – a bandit leader and a marquis’s daughter whose families kept them apart. Unable to live their love openly, the two are said to have leapt together from a cliff at the “Preta ‘ncatenata” (the chained stone), two enormous boulders that appear to embrace, so much so that locals say they symbolise the lovers having chosen eternity over separation.
“Trentinara is a tiny hamlet in the heart of the Cilento National Park, which in past years has started to attract tourists, particularly thanks to the Via dell’Amore (pathway of love) that leads to the Preta ‘ncatenata (enchained stones). Over and above the beauty of the place, these certainly are an attraction,” Rosario Carione, mayor of Trentinara, told Italy Now.
Ziplines and hikes
The Via dell’Amore is a winding pedestrian route through ancient lanes and flowering balconies, traces the lovers’ story before ending at that very rock. The annual February festival is increasingly drawing visitors from across Campania and beyond, making Trentinara one of the region’s most distinctive seasonal destinations, with sustainable tourism agencies such as My Fair increasingly sought out by travellers looking for genuinely off-the-beaten-path destinations invisible to mainstream channels. For those who prefer their thrills airborne, the Cilento in Volo zipline lets visitors cross the valley on a steel cable with the Gulf of Salerno spread beneath them. It operates from April to October.
Hikers can push into the surrounding national park toward Monte Vesole or follow the Tre Monti trail to the Solofrone waterfall, a route of old stone bridges, dry-stone walls, and sudden cliff-edge panoramas. Trentinara has no luxury hotel, and no queues for the main attraction.
