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SPAS AND GASTRONOMY |
  
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| Even the most refined writer who pauses here (thinking maybe of Ulysses, the sirens and a touch of mythological fever) will mention, in his most moving pages, the most original dishes, the most fragrant wines, the simple but tasty cakes that leave a permanent trace in his memory.
Here one can find the aesthetic pleasure of the encounter with the remains of Greek or Roman buildings, with sunny baroque architecture or with the enamel blue of the sea; but also the pleasure of keeping healty in the most natural way, and this is possible - and has been since the most remote cultures - thanks to thermal, that is natural, treatments. The names of Contursi Terme and Montesano on the Marcellana have not become famous through flocks of tourists: their fine therapeutic waters, which spring from the old hearth, restore harmony with the Great Mother, and this is an important property in the world that surrounds us, which is becoming more and more artificial, a world of our own making. There is then a third pleasure which every intelligent tourist turns into a personal need, the pleasure of good food. Here the traditional fare has earned a worldwide reputation: pasta is exported all over the world (from Japan to America, from Australia to northern Europe; mozzarella cheese made from buffalo milk - the centre of production is at Bertipaglia - is another masterpiece from the Salerno area. The local wines bear the DOC mark, like the wine of Cilento or the original wine from the Valle del Calore on the Amalfi Coast: man's old companion has a flavour that is symbolic of lasting values. Then there are cakes suc as pastiera, Santa Rosa pastry or sanguinaccio. Sweet limes, the incomparable dry figs of Cilento, and all the products of the preserved food industries are a tradition that is kept alive and offered to visitors who, by savouring the local food, are able to acquire a more intimate knowledge of the life of these places, thus arriving more easily at the truth. Perhaps these lands bathed in Sun (with a capital "S", of course!) are a "trap" for the mind and the heart, but one that it is very pleasant to fall into!
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