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Il Pizzo is a historical estate located in the municipalities of Sant’Agnello and Piano di Sorrento, it covers a rocky spur facing the sea, which gives the name to the whole building, on the gulf of “Pecoriello”.  A convent was originally here and Mariano Arlotta decided to give to the structure a romantic style in the middle of the 19^th century. Then it belonged to the Neapolitan archaeologist Paola Zancani Montuoro from the fifties till 1987. She made this place her home and protected it from wild urbanization. The estate is 16 ha wide and there are citrus and olive tree cultivations, natural environments, villas and colonial houses, high ornamental trees and a thick net of roads which connects all the different areas. It is a unique example of union between Villa, garden and citrus grove, which presents still today its characteristics unchanged. Walking towards the sea, from the access boulevard flank the villa through the citrus grove and reach the coast, where there are olive trees and the Mediterranean scrub.

Plants
The coastal area is rich in holm oaks, oaks, pines, carob trees and strawberry trees. It was created following local traditions to defend the area from northern winds and it has been enriched through time by vegetations of oleanders, agaves and myrtle hedges, which are on a narrow path of 1 km. The aerial view of this area makes it look like a small peninsula bordered on the western and eastern side by “valloni”, breakings in the tuff crag, where rivers flew into the sea in ancient times. The park is one of the largest citrus groves in the peninsula, it was created in the 19^th century and it presents still the original distribution of the citrus trees, which are cultivated according to traditional methods. Nowadays, the park hosts orange trees which are around 200 years old.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)