Non-tourist Italy

21 January 2015 Travel time: with 29 September 2014 on 04 October 2014
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Don't like it when the restaurant has an English menu? Are crowds annoyed by tourists rushing in search of souvenirs and toilets? Do you want to not understand what the neighbors are talking about on the beach? Or so that no one from the first (and fifth) time will understand where you came from? And pizza for 2-4 euros, and it will be the most delicious of those you have tasted in your life? Maybe there is a desire to fight for the last free table with Italian retirees in one of the two restaurants in the village?

If you answer at least three questions with a sure "yes", feel free to read on! You will like it; -)

To begin with, introductory data.

Late August-early September. Location: Laurito, SA, Italy

Car: without it - nowhere.

Only 5 days, and how many pleasant impressions. And bright photos, which I suggest you look at now, and finish reading my writing later.

I must say that the choice of this region was almost random.


When planning the route, we had to return from the port of Brindisi in a rented car to Naples. But they decided to pave their way in such a way as to stay for a few days somewhere in a beautiful place near the sea. I did not want a popular destination, although at first I thought we would choose housing near the beautiful city of Maratea.

In addition, we chose the sea in the mountains: I do not like the flat beaches.

So, I sit and think about how to find an apartment more beautiful and cheaper.

It turned out that my chosen region, which is the outskirts of Maratea, maybe even Scalia: not such a tourist place. On the contrary, only tourists there are not foreign, but entirely local. And as for Skalia, there are even very specific locals, I would call them "summer residents".

A resident of Skalia from "our former" wrote in one of the forums why there are so many poor people on the beaches in the summer.

Here's how we have: bedding, sandwiches, mass raids with the whole family to eat by the sea.

Like, they allocated plots for locals at sea, they did not build houses there, but huts and sheds. And some trailers are brought for the summer. People are simple, often not rich, so they rest.

For this reason, Scalia fell away. Although I did not like the housing there, and too "south", and the mountains are not impressive.

At this time I discovered the airbnb site. I knew about him, but did not take advantage. And here Julia (who accompanied my husband and me on this trip) shared a real and positive experience of renting a house, and then said that her friend is successfully renting a house in Ethiopia through this site. Well, ran! I looked at everything that appears from Agropol to Marathi on this site.

There are three of us, so, in principle, we could choose a one-room apartment with a sofa in the kitchen, but when we found this kind of apartment with a price of 45 bucks a day, we realized whether we take it? s = zb1w

Looking ahead, I will say that we were satisfied with our choice. Although there are drawbacks. Minus, as it seemed to us then, was the distance to the sea, as well as a narrow mountain road. And this is 25 km per minute.

In fact, it was a big plus.


I am very glad that I managed to persuade my husband to live in this house, because here we could feel the same "real Italy" that we have read and heard so much about, but never seen, although we have disgraced the sex of the country.

We got to Laurite late at night, because I really didn't want to leave Mother (about whom I wrote a separate story). The road from Mother to Laurite, though not far, was tiring.

First of all because of the highlands: the highway was a very small piece, the rest: very medium quality regional roads. Several small plots completely reminded themselves of the Motherland: pits, patches, height difference on the roadside.

Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to get to a very beautiful village, because it was very close. There was no time.

This is Castelmezzano. Google, great place! There were other picturesque villages, small castles, but it can be seen in other places.

As we approached our Laurito, at night, in the dark, along a narrow serpentine road, which was sometimes of very poor quality, we were sadly silent. They were silent as they had been a week before, in the same darkness, driving almost the same way in Albania from Vlora to Saranda. In anticipation of the worst. In addition, it was already 10 pm, the landlord was called several times, apologizing for such a late arrival and promising that we had 40 minutes left.

And then we call again, we have another 40 minutes to drive ...The last 50 km. The road is mountainous, deformed, often slightly collapsed or washed away, there are noticeable remnants of landslides or areas washed away by water.

But yes, all such areas are fenced off with caps, ribbons, signs.

And here is Laurit.

A small village (Vicky speaks for 940 inhabitants), located on a straight section of road between two sharp, 360 degrees. turns. On both sides of the main road are scattered old houses on 3-4 floors, a little further houses with small plots of land, gardens and orchards. A tiny village, with a center that we did not notice at night.

Who is interested, here is the site of the village / commune http:// www. common. laurito. in. it /

I will only say that the first mention of the village was in 947.


The owner was waiting for us with his car, led us to the house, showed a master class on the arrival in the yard (we once got out of the third).

The owner is a young friendly guy, whom we probably distracted from Saturday gatherings with friends, so his friends were in his car.

He gave us the keys, told us everything in great detail and showed us at home (keys, locks, internet, water, gas, food, linen, parking) and we never saw him again before the eviction.

Tired, we immediately fell asleep.

And in the morning just wiped!

We have a large wide balcony around the perimeter of all apartments! We have mountains and clouds on all sides. Wonderfully beautiful view! I must say that it was colder here than the coast. Fog, dew in the morning, even cool in the evening. One day there was a very heavy downpour with thunderstorms. But the photos that came out before the storm, and the air is fresh!

We walked around the village every day. All because the village turned out to be very old, some of the houses are so old that no one lives. And the second part of the houses, on the contrary, is beautiful, well-groomed.

Not so often in Europe have I seen such contrasts, and even with the gorgeous scenery around.

There are no hotels in the village, no tourists, only two restaurants, they are in the center and in the evenings there is no place to drop an apple. Local retirees occupy many tables. On the third day we all knew in person! There are many shops, but they are tiny. There are also a couple of bars / café s.

But there you can only drink coffee with a croissant and roll. And in the morning "oil painting": in front of the cafe is a huge table, behind him local grandparents, all as one, with croissants and coffee, chatting and, probably, discussing rare passers-by. There are so few passers-by that my grandfather's boredom is ordered by himself with strangers, that is, with us.

The conversation does not stick. They all tell us something in Italian. Note: parlo bene italiano: that's all we know.

A long pause. Then they say something, do we hear something like Deutschland? “But. "Polland? " “But. And so on… Did not guess.


This is the first case in Europe (after Albania) when the idea of ​ ​ saying "Rousseau" did not occur to foreigners…

) for 5 euros, I did not think they would bring a huge "calzone". At the same time, a separate letter was set aside in the menu on the "calzone". It was difficult to explain what tea is, etc. , quite simple things. It was easy only with wine. All pizzas cost from 2 to 3.5 euros.

There were several on the 5th highest price of the entire menu.

Third, no serving, no "for landing", envelope, etc. Only "tips" at your discretion. But no cards. Cash.

And most importantly: everything is very tasty!

What to do in Laurita?

Honestly, except for hiking and sitting in a couple of cafes, there is nothing to do there. That is why we have repeatedly "descended" from the mountains to the sea. Fortunately, the road we came to Laurito from Mother, Potenza, we no longer had to go.

If you go to Laurit from the coast, the road here is much better, although it is just as narrow, but more gentle; although there are areas with repairs and landslides, but they are few. We went the same way to the town on the coast and on the beach, it is Marina Dicamerota (hereinafter briefly called the garden "Marina").

The road to Marina is very picturesque, on one side - mountains and valleys, and on the other - mountains and sea.

You drive among olive groves and vineyards, occasionally there are tiny hamlets, and very rarely people or cars. In one place we saw huge eucalyptus thickets, although there was a warning about "Stop, private property. " The barbed wire hinted at this; -)

And below the road passes into the gorge, along the river among the high and steep cliffs.

In addition, if you go to Laurito from Salerno and Naples, then almost 10 km from the Marina - the highway. And it's free.

However, we left it later, because we had to go to the city of Paestum.

Marina DiCamerota


Small garden on the coast, like all others, has a central beach, there is a marina, promenade with restaurants, parking, hotels. And tourists are already here. A little, however. We did not swim here. Just ate in a restaurant, with standard prices (not like in our Laurito).

The attraction of the Marina and its surroundings are, in addition to picturesque spacious beaches, also inaccessible from land, bays with small beaches. And the rocky shore with beaches to which you can only sail, is quite long. In this region, there are many options to get to these bays, including a sightseeing boat, which are both in the Marina and in the town on the other side of the cliffs. We had little time, and desire too, because a few days before that, in Albania, we have already rested in such bays.

Very little Italian. I will give a short free story about this "dead city". It turned out that this is not a castle, but the ruins of an abandoned old settlement.

San Severino Di Centola

The city, or rather a fortified village is located near the coast (Marina Di Camerota). At the place where the gorge "Devil's Throat" begins in the valley of the river Mingardo. The city is very old, according to various versions, founded either in the X-XI century or in VII.

Strategically important defensive object until the 17th century, then gradually began to lose its significance. + Poverty and plague have done their job. And in 1888, after the construction of the Pasciotta-Castrocucco railway, the surviving population began to move down into the river valley. Although the city was inhabited privately until the 1930s, the local church remained the only one in the city until 1977.

Today, San Severino di Centola is a small abandoned and ruined town (only a few streets left), to the ruins of a fortress on the rocks.

Getting here is not difficult, because modern villages are located here, under the rocks. Although official visits are prohibited.

It is clear that the city was trying to restore for tourists: there are lighting, private paths, railings, but in fact the condition is not very safe (for ordinary tourists), so today the town is closed, covered with mesh and full of prohibitory signs.

But many want to climb into the "hole in the fence", the visit is more than real. Free; -)


I am very impressed by the city, and here are the views from the rocks, and here are the walks through the abandoned bridge and tunnel.

But all this is not of interest to ordinary tourists, so I will limit myself to photos, and if there is interest in fans of all the "destroyed-abandoned-underground", then I'll write more.

I will only mention one thing, in Italy there are many similar cities, abandoned for various reasons.

They are very picturesque, ancient, almost all are in the mountains, so visiting such cities is a separate type of tourism, and I highly recommend everyone to try to visit such a town in Italy. For example, the city of Craco is an example of an Italian "throw". Just google it.

On the way back to Naples, we drove to the city of Paestum.

Undoubtedly, I recommend it to everyone. Especially since this is a significant attraction, known, visited. But I will say that I was not touched.

Probably tired of antiquity on other trips. However, there is a large selection of souvenirs, many restaurants and shops. Very close to huge and wide beaches, very sandy, with pine trees on the shore. By the way, next year I already bought tickets to Naples.

And in all probability, we will choose something between Paestum and Agropol for rest.

We really liked it here!

Translated automatically from Ukrainian. View original
To add or remove photos in a story, go to album of this story
Побережье в районе Пестума, точного места не подскажу. Дикий пляж. Огромный минус-грязно на берегу!
Побережье в районе Пестума, точного места не подскажу. Дикий пляж. Огромный минус-грязно на берегу!
Побережье в районе Пестума, точного места не подскажу
Побережье в районе Пестума, точного места не подскажу. Вдалеке видно Амальфитану
Побережье в районе Пестума, точного места не подскажу. Где-то за холмами
Побережье в районе Пестума, точного места не подскажу
Побережье в районе Пестума, точного места не подскажу
Пестум
Пестум
Пестум
Пестум
Пестум
Горная деревенька
Деревенские дороги Италии и наша машинка
Лаурито или какая-то другая крошечная горная деревенька
Дорога к морю. Эвкалиптовая роща
Дорога к морю. Эвкалиптовая роща
Дорога к морю
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город. Вид с заброшенного моста
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город. Вид с заброшенного моста
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город. Вид с заброшенного моста
СанСевериноДиЧентола. Въезд в ущелье. Слева-дорога в ущелье и тоннель небольшой. Справа на холме-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
СанСевериноДиЧентола-заброшенный город
Чентола-современный городок
Чентола-современный городок
Чентола-современный городок
Чентола, современный городок
СанСевериноДиЧентола. Вид с горы. На переднем плане-современная железная дорога, чуть дальше-эстакада автобана, а дорога, которой мы приехали из Лаурито, проходит под обеими мостами и уходит куда-то вдаль, к тем холмам, что на фото в верхнем левом углу
Уже почти у моря
Лаурито, по пути к морю. Винограднички
Лаурито издалека. А может и другая деревенька-они там все похожие, но неизменно крошечные
Лаурито. Обалденный двори с видом у счастливых людей)
Лаурито. Вид с нашего балкона, противоположная от моря сторона
Лаурито
Лаурито. Я этот дворик фотографировала каждый день! Мне он очень понравился, на фото не видно, но у них панорамный вид на море, которое хоть и вдалеке, но зато ни один дом не попадает в поле зрения
Лаурито
Лаурито
Лаурито
Лаурито. Центральная дорога
Лаурито. Центральный костел
Лаурито. Центральная дорога
Лаурито. Центральная дорога и ветхие дома
Лаурито. Центральная дорога
Лаурито. Центральная дорога
Лаурито. Центральная часть города:улочки
Лаурито. Центральная часть города:главный костел, центральная улица
Лаурито. Центральная часть города:справа живут люди, а слева уже нет
Лаурито. Центральная часть города:улочки
Лаурито
Лаурито. Один из храмов
Лаурито. Наш дом. Слева-балкон 2го этажа-наш
Марина Ди Камерота. Центр
Марина Ди Камерота. Центр
Пляжи у Марина Ди Камерота
Окрестности Марина Ди Камерота
Пляжи у Марина Ди Камерота
Справа:пляж около городка Марина ди Камерота. Неудобно так парковаться, зато прямо у пляжа
Стали свидетелями тушения пожара в горах. Пилот просто мастер и умничка! Насколько же быстро он
СанСевериноДиЧентола. Тот самый заброшенный город, также видно и заброшеный мост
Лаурито. Спуск к морю. Видно эстакаду-это автобан. Тот самый бесплатный
Лаурито. Соседний домик
Лаурито. Справа: наш домик и край балкона в верхем правом углу
Лаурито. Это вид из нашего окна