Cilentan

Cilentan refers to the group of Romance dialects spoken in Cilento, a region in southern Campania, Italy. The Cilento dialects are part of the Italo-Dalmatian branch of Romance and are closely related to Neapolitan, forming part of the wider Neapolitan language continuum. Local speech varies across communities within Cilento, producing several subdialects that differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, and intonation.

Cilentan has traditionally been used in everyday communication in towns and rural settlements in Cilento, particularly among older speakers. In recent decades, Italian has become dominant, and younger generations use Cilentan less frequently in daily life. Nonetheless, the dialects survive in family speech, oral storytelling, folk songs, and cultural events, and are sometimes taught or promoted by local associations and schools as part of regional heritage.

The Cilento linguistic tradition reflects the region’s historical ties to the broader Campanian and southern Italian cultural landscape and contributes to regional identity. The dialects, like others in southern Italy, are valued for their dialectal literature, music, and oral history.

See also: Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park; Neapolitan language; Italian language.