Easy Hikes in Cilento National Park: Grotte del Bussento and Capelli di Venere Waterfalls

For the next day we again planned rather easy ans scenic walks in Campania that combined water, shade and greenery, i.e. Grotte del Bussento in Morigerati and Capelli di Venere waterfalls in Cilento. Since both places are close to each other, they are ideal if you’re planning a day trip to Italy.

Morigerati Oasis and Grotte del Bussento: A Shady Canyon Walk in Cilento

WWF Oasi Morigerati occupies 600 hectares spread around the canyon of the Bussento River. The cave (Grotte del Bussento) and an old mill are two main attractions there, but for me  the attraction was lush greenery.
The place is great for lovers of easy hikes in Italy and a bit of ‘smoothed’ nature. Smoothed because it’s a kind of easy, tourists-friendly path, and that’s why you have to pay an entrance fee (adults 6 euros).

To get to the oasis, use the GPS; enter ‘Morigerati’ – the town  or Grotte del Bussento Morigerati. You can park in the center and walk down the road for a short distance (there’s a sign indicating the direction), but you can also drive to the ticket office and park a little down, near goats.

There is a small farm with chickens and goats behind a fence. It turned out that the smiling goats preferred my rusks to their leaves. And they really smile when they want you to give them more rusks. And  they consumed all my snacks.

Practical information for visiting WWF Oasi Morigerati

• The route is easy, maybe just with two a bit steep sections, so you can walk it in comfortable covered shoes, not necessarily the trekking ones.

• However, I always wear them if I plan to go even on an easy hike.

• The oasis is open all year round, except on rainy days.
  From autumn to spring, from 10:00 to 16:00; in summer, from 10:00 to 18:00.

• In winter, you have to contact and book a walk.

• There are fountains with drinkable water on the route.

• This short canyon walk is full of shade, which is nice and not so obvious in Campania.

The ticket office is located in a building with a sign reading “Biglietteria.” In addition to our tickets, we were given a map, a copy of the hand-drawn tour route. After leaving, we turned left and reached a wooden gate (again, goats were waiting for us along the way); that’s where the trail begins.

The trail to Grotte del Bussento cave

The path to the canyon is 800 m, mainly made of stone stairs leading down 130 m. At the bottom of the steps, we came across two signs with the words: grotto / mulino.

First, we went to the cave; outside was a guide waiting for visitors. He was clearly quite bored with his job; delighted to see us, he told us a bit about the cave. We entered by descending stone steps. The high walls of the cave are connected by a wooden bridge, or rather a footbridge, and I really don’t trust any Italian hanging structure. That’s because in Italy, various hanging structures fall or collapse. So of course, standing on the bridge, I took the opportunity to panic a bit.

Under my feet, there was a several-hundred-meter crevice through which the Bussento flows. Admiring the cave, I walked around taking pictures and regretting that the water level was so low. I can imagine how impressive this masterwork of nature must look when it is full of water.

Bussento Valley and the old Greek mill

From the cave, we descended (slightly hilly) into the Bussento Valley. It’s a picturesque place with lush greenery: mosses, ferns, ivy parasitizing the trees, and other such green pests coiling around the trunks. They are pests, yes, but unfortunately they also create a very nice environment by twining around trees and hanging here and there. There are trout, crayfish, and freshwater crabs in the river. We were lucky to spot a few of its tiny inhabitants.

Enjoying the surrounding vegetation, we reached an old stone mill, built centuries ago by the Greeks.

Also there an equally enthusiastic guide told us about the history of the buliding. Their enthusiasm gave me the impression that the oasis was one of the places beyond usual tourist spots in Italy. If it were crowded, the guides would be spouting formulas rather than being passionate about what they were saying. But I may be wrong.

The interior of the mill was just the interior. However, viewed from the riverbank, surrounded by greenery, the stone mill spewing water into the river is truly picturesque.

A few dozen meters beyond the mill, at the end of the river, there’s a place where you can step into the cold water. Of course we did it. It was warm, so our feet appreciated it. And then we climbed up, because the entrance gate to the oasis is also its exit.

Capelli di Venere Waterfalls in Cilento (Hair of Venus)

About 20 minutes from the WWF oasis, in the Castello Spartano area, there is an incredibly picturesque, almost fairy-tale place called Capelli di Venere. In my humble opinion, it’s absolutely worth admiring, experiencing, and photographing spot. Simply a spot worth making.

The legend of Capelli di Venere

One fine day Venus wandered into the vicinity of Castello Spartano and discovered a beautiful place in the forest. She decided to settle there. Venus, as we know, was famous for her beauty, so one shepherd fell madly in love with her.  The goddess, being a goddess, preoccupied with her beauty, didn’t care about the man. Besides, if she did, there would have been a misalliance, and the other gods would have had their fun, gossiping as much as they could.

One night, while Venus slept,a desperately-in-love man committed a terrible crime: he cut off a lock of her hair.

Bad luck, because Venus woke up and flew into a rage. She turned the lock of hair into a stream, in which she drowned the poor sheepherd. Pretty cruel I’d say. The beautiful and somewhat impulsive Venus quickly took pity on the drowned shepherd and even tried to save him, but apparently she wasn’t familiar with first aid, and he died. So she used her magical powers again and transformed the shepherd’s body into a plant growing next to the “hair” stream. Clever, she didn’t have to water it. Remorse, or perhaps she simply liked the shepherd in his plant form, caused her to stay there. And so the Capella di Venere waterfalls in Campania were born.

How to get to Capelli di Venere waterfalls

Drive to Casaletto Spartano, a small village of just a thousand people. The Capella di Venere Waterfalls are less than a kilometer from the village, so you can walk there. But you can also enter, as we did, Area Capello Casaletto Spartano in your GPS and drive to the parking lot right at the entrance to the park. There is also a ticket office there (cash only), but it was closed at Easter, so we were lucky admiring these picturesque waterfalls for free.

Walking to the waterfalls and the fairy-tale landscape

Descending, we passed a wooden house on the left and went a little further down to a wooden bridge. From there, we saw the spot where Venus committed her crime against the poor man. The view from the bridge is absolutely magical: narrow streams of water flow from the green undergrowth/shepherd. An old stone bridge, partly hidden under plants, looms over it.

From the bank, just opposite Venus’s Hair, the impression is even more fairy-tale-like: the water flows through moss and lichen, giving the plants a beautiful, vibrant green color. It looks a bit like the plants are hidden beneath a crystal-whitish veil. Capelli di Venere and its delicate waterfalls are an absolutely enchanting place.

We were lucky because there were not many people there. I suspect that in the summer it can be crowded, especially that it’s a family-friendly walk. And who wouldn’t want to feel like they were in a fairy tale? To get back to the real world, it’s enough to step into the water. Even in summer, it doesn’t reach 10 degrees Celsius, so it works like a down-to-earth hydromassage. We also went down to the river on the other side of the waterfalls, where we had lunch in peace, totally without people.

What else to do in Area Capello, Cilento National Park

You can do quite a few things in Cilento National Park, for example exploring other shaded nature paths, having a picnic, going for a bike ride, or just admiring the local biodiversity. Area Capello seems to be a popular place among the locals, so in the summer and at weekends, it might be quite busy. Although I don’t like crowds, I still think it’s absolutely worth a visit. If you go there during the week, I believe you may make most of this relaxed trail in southern Campania.

We also went on the other side of the road. Just behind the parking, there are wooden stairs leading to the other part of the river. It’s not a breathtaking place for sure, but the color of the water under a rather ugly small dam is amazing.

Is this easy nature walk in Campania worth it? Absolutely.  If you’re looking for easy trails, secret spots, dalicate waterfalls Italian, and nature, you’ll definitely find something for yourself in the Capello area.