Novi Velia is typical of the medieval towns of Cilento: they are built on strategically defensive sites on hilltops and on the ancient communications routes along the mountain ridges.

The city Elea found by Focei into 540 B.C. was an old population from Asia Minor, to flight of the Persian invasion. They built their city, they strengthened it, they provided it with two harbours. With Rome, Elea became Velia, had business relations, political, cultural, without to lose its autonomy.

The houses cluster round a central castle or watchtower, the other prominent feature being the church, and in some cases a monastic group. Of the monastic properties, the most impressive is the Certosa di San Lorenzo at Padula in the Vallo di Diano. Construction began in 1306, but in its present form it is essentially Baroque, built in the 17th and 18th centuries.