The magnificent vestiges of Paestum were not far away. And, frequenting that area, King Carlo di Borbone rapidly noticed the great wood of Persano, very rich in game and extending through the plain crossed by Sele and Calore Lucanorivers.

The Ripoli, rich merchants who arrived in Pollica in the Aragonese period, came from Catalonia. In the Cilento town where they settled, their wealth multiplied, and they used this richness to also build an imposing castle on the sea, in the nearby hamlet of Pioppi.

The rich library of the convent of Santa Maria della Pietà, in the countryside outside the hamlet of Vatolla, was an irresistible attraction. Giovan BattistaVico was often there, as soon as his commitments as tutor of the children of baron Domenico Rocca, owner of the castle left him free time.

A spur of rock between Mount Alburno to the north and Mount Vesole to the south, dominating the Calore Lucano valley. An ideal location, naturally protected, immediately noticed by the first inhabitants of that region, of Etruscan origins, and which later attracted the attention of the Greeks of Poseidonia as well.