The Cilento region served as a key route for cultural, political, and commercial communications in prehistoric times and during the Middle Ages. The crest of the three mountain ridges that run east to west in this area was the only viable means of communication between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian seas in the central Mediterranean region. The Cilento region was also the boundary between the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia and the indigenous Etruscan and Lucanian peoples. These ancient cultures are preserved in the remains of two classical cities, Paestum and Velia, but evidence of these Greek-Italic cultures can be seen throughout the Cilento area, including Corleto and the immediately surrounding towns.