Palinuro

Palinuro

Location: Italy (CAMPANIA – Province of SALERNO)
Type of village: Tents then huts
Year of opening: 1955
Year of closing: 1981

A little history: The village is announced on the front page of Trident No. 32 of January 1955 as being the new village of the year. The newspaper presents it as the Italian Corfu. A large plot of land planted with olive trees on which tents are set up, a beach bordering the Mediterranean, traditional activities water skiing, scuba diving, excursions as well as an annex village in Marina di Camarotta such is the identity card of the village.

During the first season, not everything was perfect in the village. Major difficulties with the presence of pebbles and rocks just a few meters from the shore hampered the practice of water sports such as swimming and water skiing. The GMs had to travel a few hundred meters to find more ideal conditions.
The installation of a wooden pontoon helped to resolve the situation, but it was quickly swept away by a storm that wiped out the efforts made.

During the 1955/56 wintering period, work was carried out. A stone and concrete pontoon allowed water skiers to leave the village from the following summer.

1957 Palinuro first sailing village.   

1957 The GMs discover a brand new Palinuro. Huts replace tents. As for water sports, they discover a new activity: sailing.

The program of excursions/bivouacs/Odysseys has also expanded. Thanks to three additional villages: Marina di Camarotta, Villa Pena di Capri, and Marcellinna, excursions can take place over several days.

Throughout its history, Palinuro has been a village turned towards the sea. During the day, free diving, scuba diving, sailing, and sea trips to picnic or camp in Marcellinna are the village's success. On land, there is no tennis, but judo (as in Donoratico), a small miniature golf course, and fencing, not forgetting the famous applied arts and recorded music concerts in the late afternoon.    

The journey

The first GMs left under the watchful eye of Gérard BLITZ on the morning of May 28, 1955 aboard the special Club Méditerranée Paris Gare de Lyon / Turin-Rome – Brindisi train which also took GMs to Barrati, Capri and Corfu.
That same year, the Club also offered the possibility of traveling by plane Paris/Rome followed by transfer by coach to the village. This offer disappeared in the following years following negative feedback from GMs forced to endure 10 hours of bus travel.

It was at the small Pisciotta-Palinuro station that the GM arrived and left. 

Village Chiefs

Jean Pierre Becret opened the village in 1955. He was the village chief for the first four years. Marcel Contal was in charge of diving and underwater photography for the first few years.
Roger Caillet spent five consecutive seasons there from 1961 onwards.

Pierrot CHIQUERILLE, known as Pierrot la Tendresse, closed the village in 1981