Cilento Coast, Campania, Italy

South of Salerno, past the temples of Paestum, the coast of Campania grows quieter. This is the Cilento: nearly a hundred kilometres of cliffs, coves and long beaches backed by olive groves, cork oak and the mountains of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape that also takes in the ancient cities of Paestum and Velia. Greek colonists, Lucanians and Romans all left their mark here, and the villages along the shore, from Castellabate and Palinuro to Scario and Villammare, still feel like places where people live rather than resorts.

It is the Italy many travelers hope to find and seldom do: fish landed in the morning and eaten at lunch, buffalo mozzarella from the plain of Paestum, white figs and olive oil from the hills, and a coastline best explored by boat, from the sea caves of Palinuro to the cove of Porto Infreschi. It was here, at Pioppi, that the American scientist Ancel Keys spent decades studying the way of eating the world now calls the Mediterranean diet.

At the southern end of the coast, above Villammare on the Gulf of Policastro, Villa Le Cannicelle is a private family villa of five bedrooms for up to fourteen, with an infinity pool and terraces that look across the gulf to the mountains of Calabria. We arrange it for weekly stays, with boats, chefs and days out added as you wish.