Scario, a coast full of caves coves and towers
Scario is the largest fraction of San Giovanni a Piro in the province of Salerno, a major tourist destination for the quality of its waters and its location.
The first known inhabitants seem to have been of Samnite origin, put to flight by the Greeks in the 5th century BC
After centuries of alternating devastation events common to the other centers of the coast by barbarians and Saracens, towards the end of the eighteenth century d.c. the urban center was built on the rocks of the Garagliano thanks to some fishermen helped by the Counts Carafa della Spina, feudal lords of Policastro, and by some noble families of San Giovanni a Piro.
Today the country deserves a special mention as a tourist destination of great importance for the quality of its waters and for its position being the seaside village closest to the pristine coast of the Masseta. From the small port of Scario there are several excursions to one of the most beautiful places in the park: “Punta degli Infreschi”. The coast that goes from Scario to the tip, in fact, is dotted with karst caves, coves accessible only from the sea and from watchtowers. There is no road by land to reach these places for which you need to be equipped with a boat or another vessel. The waters of this part of the gulf are very limpid and rich in marine fauna, probably due to the karst nature of the rocks and the consequent presence of submarine springs of fresh water and at a lower temperature. The presence of the park allows to keep pollution levels very low because the area has been for a long time not very urbanized, but in recent periods the notoriety of the locality, increased together with the whole coast of Cilento, and the construction of some roads that have facilitated access, could lead to rapid degrading overbuilding.
The village lies on the west end of the Gulf of Policastro, and inside the Parco del Cilento. It is about 4 km from Policastro Bussentino, 8 from the capital San Giovanni a Piro, 15 from Sapri and 24 from Marina di Camerota.
From the port of Scario there are several excursions to one of the most attractive places in the park: Punta degli Infreschi (not far from Marina di Camerota). The coast from Scario to Marina di Camerota is dotted with karst caves, coves accessible only from the sea and sighting towers. To reach these places it is advisable to equip yourself with a boat or another boat as there are only a few pedestrian paths by land with a journey time of about 2 hours.
The lack of urbanization before and the establishment of the park then allowed to maintain a remarkable landscape value and a very low level of pollution difficult to find in other coastal locations.
The nearest railway station in Scario is Policastro Bussentino, on the Naples-Salerno-Reggio Calabria line. Also near Policastro, there are 2 high-speed roads, one in the direction of Sanza and Padula, the other (completed in 2006), leads much more quickly to Salerno via Vallo della Lucania-Agropoli-Battipaglia.
