Cilento is an italian geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the Province of Salerno in the south of Italy.
The Cilentan Coast (Costiera Cilentana in Italian), is a stretch of coastline (on Tyrrhenian Sea) situated in the gulfs of Salerno and Policastro, extending in 16 municipalities; from Capaccio-Paestum in the north-west to Sapri in the south-east.
In a great part of the territory of Cilento and Vallo di Diano it was instituted, on 1991, a national park, to protect the territory from building speculation and mass tourism. In 1998 the park becomes a World Heritage Site of UNESCO.
The coast is located between Paestum and the Gulf of Policastro, near the town of Sapri. More of touristic towns by the coast are "frazioni"; as for example Santa Maria di Castellabate, Acciaroli, Velia, Pioppi, Marina di Casalvelino, Palinuro, Marina di Camerota, Scario and Policastro Bussentino.
The inner boundaries are the Alburni mountains and Vallo di Diano, sometimes considered as part of cilentan geographical region, which has in Sala Consilina its largest center. The most important towns in this area are Vallo della Lucania (in the middle), Sapri and Agropoli: this is the largest town of Cilento and the principal harbour.