Porto di Agropoli

A natural shelter between history, culture and nature, the tourist port of Agropoli represents an excellent port of call for anyone who wants to experience the unspoiled places in the Cilento Park and an important reference point for the tourist and commercial development of the entire Cilento territory. For those descending the Tyrrhenian coast, past the ancient remains of Paestum, Agropoli can be considered the gateway to Cilento: crossing its threshold one discovers a world in which history, culture, traditions and natural beauty are mixed. The origins of the name testify to its Greek descent, in fact Agropoli means “high city” (from àkros/alto – pòlis/city). The territory of Agropoli has been frequented since the Neolithic by peoples dedicated to hunting and fishing. At the mouth of the Testene River in the past there was a bay, used by the Greeks for trade, both before and after the founding of nearby Poseidonia (ancientPaestum). In Roman times, beginning in the first century B.C., there is evidence of a small maritime village, Ercula, near the present San Marco waterfront, which was also intended to serve as a landing place for nearby Paestum, whose ports were silting up.

In ancient times it was a small natural harbor, characterized by a sheltering place for boats and a “fort,” a gathering place for local sailors. In the 1960s the gradual but steady development of the marina began. It is a safe harbor a stone’s throw from the old town and shopping streets in the western part of the town of the same name.

The port of Agropoli today is considered the true port of Cilento, completely artificial, carved out within the inlet that opens south of Punta del Fortino and consists of a 572-meter-long elbowed breakwater, a 327-meter-long shore quay, with a large yard behind, and a 159.43-meter-long sub-billow quay.

Facilities for recreational boating currently allow for a capacity of about 1,000 berths. From the shore quay and the second arm of the breakwater pier, 17 floating docks branch off, of which 9 are managed by private individuals united in the EUROMAR consortium, 6 by the municipality and 2 by associations. The berths are divided into 5 floating docks under concession to private parties for a total availability of about 300 berths; 2 floating docks under concession to the Italian Naval League for an availability of about 250 berths; no. 4 concrete and 2 floating docks in concession to the City of Agropoli for an availability of about 250 berths and 5 floating docks in concession to private parties for an availability of about 200 berths.

The mouth of the port has a width of 145 meters and the subsequent evolution basin has a diameter of 165 meters, the depths for landing and evolution in the basin, vary from 6 to 5 meters. The land areas of the port have a total area of 31,051 square meters.

Not far from the marina, it is possible to immerse oneself in the lush green Cilento nature and enjoy a unique view from the legendary ancient village.

It is news of these days the request made during the last City Council meeting by the mayor of Agropoli and the port councillor to the Campania Region to have the City of Agropoli manage the entire port area, at the end of the expiration of state concessions scheduled for 2015, and an international ideas competition for the redevelopment of the marina. This is a programmatic choice aimed at activating management procedures and planning suitable for relaunching the economic, social and tourism role of the port area, one of the most important in southern Italy.