Geodiversity in the Geopark of Cilento and Vallo di Diano as heritage and resource development

In the south of Campania is located one of the largest parks of Italy founded in the 1991. It occupies a territory of over 1800 km2, which includes the Cilento with its impressive mountain and the striking coastline, and the “Vallo di Diano”, a NW-SE directed depression in the Apenninic chain. In detail, its boundaries are represented to the north by the Sele Valley and the relative coastal plain, to the east by the fore-mentioned “Vallo di Diano”, in which the Tanagro River flows, to the south by the Lucanian mountains and the Policastro Gulf and to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea. In the area included within these boundaries can show a great number of geological features with different degree of importance and interest in order to provoke the interest of everybody, not only of geologists. For this reasons, in 2010 the National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano became a member of the European Geoparks Network (EGN). The application was also favoured by the presence of other aspects in the park, unique and exceptional, already considered by UNESCO as part of their programs, such as archaeological (Paestum, Velia and Padula), ecological (biodiversity with extreme value species), historical and cultural (e.g. abandoned suburbs of Roscigno Vecchio and S. Severino; Sanctuary of the Madonna of Novi on Gelbison M.). The integration of these issues could lead to strong economic development initiatives, especially in the tourism sector. Through these initiatives the citizens of the park could benefit, some 270.000 inhabitants, that can find ways to revitalize their territory.