The area covers an area of 948.75 km2 with a density of 53.2 ab./km2, the lowest of the inland areas of Campania, and falls within the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, the second largest park in Italy (181,048 hectares).
The 30 municipalities that form part of the Area all fall within the Province of Salerno and have, overall, just over 45,000 inhabitants and two main centres of gravity: Vallo della Lucania with 7,992 inhabitants and Roccadaspide with 6,932 inhabitants. The municipalities with the fewest inhabitants are Valle dell’Angelo (219 inhabitants) and Campora (311 inhabitants). About 40% Municipalities have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants and there is a progressive decrease in the population in the 0-16 age group, with serious repercussions on the availability of school services and on the very sustainability of institutions, many of which have already been merged or, in some cases, completely abolished.
In the 2021/2027 Mapping of Internal Areas carried out by the Ministry of the South and Territorial Cohesion in collaboration with Istat, as many as 13 municipalities in Cilento Interno have been reclassified as ‘ultra-peripheral’, a sign that the area is considered to be among the most disadvantaged and distant from the main urban centres. On the health front, the two hospitals in Roccadaspide and Vallo della Lucania, together with the Community Hospital in Roccadaspide, play a crucial role in accessing treatment, but address the problem of shortages of health workers. This is a significant problem at national level, but it particularly affects the Cilento Interno as it is already characterized by a lower availability of doctors compared to urban areas.
The strategic objective of the new programming is to try to contain the depopulation of the area by promoting sustainable socio-economic development and based on an evolutionary approach that starts from the analysis of needs and values the experiences already achieved.
Here is the Preliminary Strategy of the ‘Chilento Interno’ Area“ Adopted: Regional Executive Decision No 729 of 8 October 2025
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