The Route of the Monks

Meeting point:  iMoresani
Lenght of ride:  30 km, 5-6 hours
Riding ability:  medium
Horse knowledge required:  pace, trot and gallop
Departure altitude:  200 m above sea-level
We ride through a colourful landscape dotted with olive-trees to reach, after 2km, a stream which will lead us to a ford over the river Alento. From here, we ride towards the hills past vineyards and olive-groves, leaving behind us a beautiful view of the Gulf of Casal Velino and Velia Castle.

We ride towards Castel Nuovo Cilento (272 m above sea-level) where we will stop to rest, eat and visit the medieval castle. This site of clear medieval origin was a very important bulwark at the time of the saracen invasions, Later it became the administrative centre of the feud of Guido d’Alemagna. On the way back, after a downhill ride through olive-trees, we arrive at Pantana where we find the Franciscan monastery of Saint Clare (20 m above sea-level). In front of us stretches the plain of the river Alento, with its intense cultivation of vegetables.

We ride on towards Isca Longa to cross the river at its shallowest point. From here, past an area of reafforestation of pines and eucaliptus trees, we reach San Giorgio where, according to legend, there was a settlement of monks professing to the Greek rite, before the year 1000. After the war of Vespro (1282-1302) both the settlement and the village were destroyed. We return to the agritourism in the evening.