Cilento in October - Castellabate and Santa Maria di Castellabate

On Thursday the cloud has mostly lifted and it's a brilliantly sunny day but the wind is strong and waves racing on a deep blue sea. It isn't far from Agropoli to Castellabate where we find some free parking below the castle. The village is small but pretty, reddish brown stone buildings, the Chiesa Madre is open and of course there is the small square made famous by the film Benvenuti al Sud. We decide to go into the castle. It costs just a euro each and apart from the panoramic view of Santa Maria di Castellabate below, and more of the Cilento area to the south, there are also some pictures by local artists and Roman amphoras and ancient anchors retrieved from the sea off the coast, as well as a miniature of Castellabate on the ground floor.

Up at the top, on the second floor, there's an art exhibition which was curated by Vittorio Sgarbi. There are some pictures by Paulette Milesi, the creator of some of the Missoni designs and an exhibition based on the connection between Pasolini and Caravaggio which includes paintings and photographs. Castellabate doesn't offer much in the way of bakeries for lunch provisions so we go down to Santa Maria, which, we quickly discover is a pretty town but also doesn't offer much in the way of bakeries for lunch provisions.......

Bar Leucosia has a board outside with cheap first courses and TripAdvisor comes up with 4/5 so we sit down. The pizzas are ok and decidedly enough, with water and coffee we spend 16.50€ which is fair enough. We head for the sea front. 

Santa Maria is pretty and the rough sea seems transparent and a bluey green. Some intrepid Germans are swimming despite the wind and rough sea. We spend the afternoon there, relaxing in some sheltered corners, walking, but not too much, until the shadows lengthen and we decide to head back to Agropoli for the sunset and some work.