Nature

The territory of the municipality of Roccadaspide is compressed for 38% in the area of the Cilento National Park, Vallo di Diano and Alburni. The main natural element of the area is the chestnut tree which in these areas produces a particular variety of chestnut which is recognized as the PGI brand.
Along the slopes of Mount Vesole it is possible to walk along paths, from which to admire an extensive chestnut forest in which some typical elements of the peasant culture can be identified such as dry stone walls, stone bridges, fountains with drinking troughs for grazing herds. Along the way, in some points, it is also possible to enjoy a complete overview of the entire Valle del Calore below.

Religious Architectures

• Ruins of the Franciscan convent of the Conventual Friars dedicated to S. Maria delle Grazie , located outside the inhabited center in the underlying Valle del Calore and built in the fifteenth century, probably by the Dominican Friars. The church of the convent is currently dedicated to the cult of St. Anthony of Padua, has a single nave with a single aisle and is accessed through a portico, surmounted by two cross vaults, where you can see a pictorial cycle almost totally covered with plaster depicting the ‘Tree of the Franciscans and Santa Maria delle Grazie with S. Francesco and S. Antonio. In the church of the structure there is the statue of S. Maria delle Grazie invoked by the people in times of drought, while outside the statue of the Madonna del latte and the cross of Monteoliveto is still located today.
• Ruins of the Carmelite Convent dedicated to S. Maria dell’Arco and del Carmine , located on an isolated hill, in a slightly elevated position compared to the town about a kilometer from the city center. Its main function was to guard the tombs of the noble Rocchese families and the common ossuary. The convent, now in ruins, was demolished in the 1950s. and the stones were used to build the rural roads of the municipality.
• Church of the Assumption , located in the historic center, is the oldest church in the country. It was built before the year 1000 by those who escaped the destruction of the nearby city of Paestum, was damaged in 1943 by the allied bombings of the Second World War and later restored.
• Church of the Nativity of Mary , located on a hill overlooking the main square of the village, was built in 1608 near the then cloistered monastery of S. Elisabetta. Of particular interest are the bronze portal (placed after the restoration of the 90s), the bell tower with the clock and the furnishings kept inside the church, among which we remember an oil painting depicting the Immaculate conception considered a youthful work by Giovanni Battista Caracciolo known as Battistello and dated around 1607.
• Chiesa del Carmine or dei Morti , built in front of the castle in 1700, was a church of the congregation of the dead. There was a mass grave, now plaster sealed, where the dead were buried up to the beginning of the 19th century.
• Evangelical Christian Church “Assemblies of God in Italy” . The evangelical community of Roccadaspide saw the beginning of the testimony in 1928 with the first conversions to the Gospel. The current place of worship was built in the 80s.

Monuments

• The castle , located on a hill overlooking the Calore Lucano river valley. Built in the thirteenth century, presumably by the will of Emperor Frederick II of Swabia following events related to the conspiracy of Capaccio. It is in an excellent state of conservation, has a perimeter of 400 meters and consists of 33 rooms and 7 towers, 2 of which are quadrangular and 5 cylindrical. Inside the walls of the castle there are rooms once used as prisons and torture chambers as well as the gardens of the Court.
• Gravestone of the Scanno , located in the locality of Difesa – S.Maria, in a point called Scanno, it is an incision in the rock sculpted in 1728 to remember the completion of the mule track that connected the capital center with the western part of the rest of the municipality and with the Capaccio area.

Controne, Giungano, Trentinara