itenfrde+39 329 288 1337 info@laviasilente.it
+39 329 288 1337 info@laviasilente.it
itenfrde

Stage 7 : Roscigno / Teggiano

Today you will leave the Cilento proper and head into the Diano Valley, crossing the spectacular Corticato Saddle. If your choice will have been to sleep in a tent in the old village of Roscigno, then you will have to reach Roscigno nuovo and from here head to the village of Sacco. After a little more than three kilometers you will cross one of the highest single-arch bridges in Europe: if you don’t have vertigo problems, look out over the deep gorge carved by the Sammaro River, which flows 170 meters below. After crossing the bridge, even before entering the village, you will find a sign pointing you to the 1 km route to the River Springs.You can go down with your bicycle, but the road is very steep and going back up will not be an easy task. From Sacco begins a climb of about 10 km that will take you up to an elevation of 1022 mt; your fatigue will be repaid by the spectacle of the Via flowing silently between the wooded Mount Motola on the left (1700 mt) and the jagged profile of the Cocuzzo delle Puglie on the right (1428 mt), and in the late spring months the landscape is tinged with the golden yellow of broom. Reaching the top of the Saddle, looking down into the valley, the town of Teggiano can be seen. If you left Roscigno early you may be able to enjoy the spectacle of the village emerging from the misty curtain of the valley. With a very pleasant descent and an extraordinary view of the valley, you will reach the foot of the ridge on which Teggiano rests. The town, probably founded by the Lucanians around the 4th century B.C., is also known as the Land of Many Churches. The first one encountered going up the ridge is the Church of SS Annunziata, of Angevin foundation (early 15th century). The road will lead you onto the wide Town Hall Square a short distance away from which is the Church of St. Francis with its 1307 portal. Also in Town Hall Square towers the bell tower of the Cathedral of St. Mary Major, built in 1275. From a parallel alley, one enters the cathedral through a magnificent 1279 portal by Melchiorre di Montalbano. Among the town’s narrow streets: the Church of St. Peter, probably built in the 13th century on the temple of Aesculapius; the Church of St. Augustine, dating back to 1370; the Renaissance Church of St. Martin, but subject to numerous restorations. Descending to the southern edge of the settlement, one comes across the Church of St. Angelo (or St. Michael the Archangel), dating back to the 12th century. On the opposite side of the town, to the north, we come to the Church of SS.Pietà with an adjoining convent, founded in the 1300s and originally occupied by the Benedictines, who moved to the center of the town in 1470. The town of Teggiano is also home to an important Herb Museum located near the ancient Convent of SS. Pieta and a point of reference for scholars and researchers but also local farmers and housewives.