Campania · Salerno
Castelcivita
A small Alburni hill town at 526 meters in the Cilento national park, the surface entrance to a 4,800-meter karst cave inhabited 40,000 years ago.
Picked by Peter Benei
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 57 min from Salerno
- Population
- 1,383
- J10°
- F12°
- M13°
- A16°
- M21°
- J26°
- J31°
- A30°
- S25°
- O21°
- N16°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Castelcivita sits at 526 meters on the western flank of the Alburni mountains, in the Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni National Park, forty-five kilometers inland from Salerno. The town has 1,383 residents and a medieval ridge plan around an Angevin tower, now the seat of the Museum of Rural Civilization. Most visitors come for the caves below the village, the Grotte di Castelcivita, a karst system that runs for nearly 4,800 meters along the Calore river and includes named halls of the Castle, the Crocodile and the Desert.
The cave mouth opens at ninety-four meters above sea level, 1.5 kilometers from the town. In 1972 the Paleolithic deposits at the entrance turned the grotte into one of the most significant sites of early human presence in southern Italy, with stone tools and faunal remains dated to roughly 40,000 years ago. The town above is quiet. The cave system is what brings school groups, speleologists and weekend visitors from Salerno.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 1 h 41 min by car.
Bari (BRI) is about 3 h 7 min away.
By car from the center of Salerno 57 min, Naples 1 h 41 min or Bari 3 h 10 min.
Coming by train into Salerno? Castelcivita is about 1 h away by road.
Every town within reach of Naples airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Grotte di Castelcivita
Karst cave system running nearly 4,800 meters along the Calore, with Paleolithic deposits from roughly 40,000 years ago and named halls of the Castle, the Crocodile and the Desert.
Torre Angioina
Thirteenth-century Angevin tower at the top of the centro storico, now the seat of the Museo della Civiltà Contadina with Paleolithic finds from the caves.
Centro storico medievale
Ridge-pattern village of stone houses and stepped lanes on the slope of the Alburni, with views east across the Calore valley.
Monti Alburni
Limestone massif rising directly behind the town, the western anchor of the Cilento national park, with hiking trails to Monte Panormo.
Living here
Could you live here?
Castelcivita is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,383. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Roccadaspide, is 27 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Salerno, a city of 126,000, is 57 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 1,383, down 21.4% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Salerno, 57 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Roccadaspide, 9 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €540 to €680 per m² to buy, €1.50 to €1.90 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 96% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Naples airport (NAP), 1 h 41 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Naples, 1 h 41 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
3% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania and Morocco, against 9% across Italy. There are 577 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 53% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Salerno province ranks 90th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Roccadaspide, 9 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Salerno, 41 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Salerno, 41 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 277 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is École Francaise de Naples Alexandre-Dumas, 93 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.4% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €8,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town qualifies, for someone with a foreign pension who has lived abroad for five years: 7% on foreign income, for ten years.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Campania spends about €1,800 a month, €650 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €328 a year for water, on the Campania average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, under 1% in a high or medium one. 28% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
THE GROTTE
Nearly 4,800 meters of karst caves with Paleolithic deposits dated to 40,000 years ago, open to the public since 1929 and lit since 1962.
PARCO NAZIONALE
Inside the Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni National Park, a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1997 covering 1,810 square kilometers.
TORRE ANGIOINA
Thirteenth-century watchtower at the top of the borgo, now housing the Museo della Civiltà Contadina and Paleolithic finds from the caves.
Common questions
- What is Castelcivita known for?
- Castelcivita is a small Alburni hill town at 526 meters in the Cilento national park, the surface entrance to a 4,800-meter karst cave inhabited 40,000 years ago.
- Where is Castelcivita?
- Castelcivita is a comune in the province of Salerno, in Campania.
- What is the nearest airport to Castelcivita?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Naples (NAP), about 1 h 41 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Salerno to Castelcivita?
- About 57 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Castelcivita?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Castelcivita?
- Fornelli, Aiello Calabro and San Mauro Forte.
- How many people live in Castelcivita?
- 1,383 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Castelcivita a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Castelcivita is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Roccadaspide, is 27 min away. The nearest city, Salerno, is 57 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Roccadaspide, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 96% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 526 m
- Population: 1,383
- Surface area: 57.64 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Castelcivita appears in
- The 8 best hill towns inside a national park in CampaniaCampaniahill towninside a park8 towns · smallest 573 residents
- The best hill towns within 90 minutes of SalernoNear Salernohill townwithin 90 min9 towns · smallest 576 residents · closest 49 min away
- The best small towns inside a national park in the province of SalernoSalerno provinceinside a parksmall9 towns · smallest 573 residents
Similar
Towns like Castelcivita
What all six share with Castelcivita: inland, away from the coast · under 3,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Castelcivita is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Castelcivita comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Cerveteri, 311 km away. Read its letter →
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