Types | Excursions Transfers | Velia, Paestum, Italy




Velia Italy

The old city of Magna Grecia, on the Tyrrhenian coast of the Campania region (Cilento), near the mouth of the river Alento, was founded by the Focesi in the 6th century B.C., at that time a busy commercial area. In the 5th and 6th century B.C. an Eleatic school arose producing the greatest philosophers Parmenide and Zenone. Velia joined the Roman orbit in 272 B.C. and became municipality in the 1st century BC. It was later destroyed by the Saracens between the 8th and 9th century.

Recent excavations have brought to light majestic remains of the ancient city in which a paved street connected two neighbourhoods divided by the ridge of the hill of the Acropolis. In the western part of the city there are the remains of an archaic built-up area based on terraces and made of buildings with polygonal shape, there are the basis of an archaic temple behind which there is an Hellenistic period theatre. Beyond the enclosing walls a good part of the Southern quarter has came to light with buildings with portal entrances as well as a Roman building with gate entrances.

Velia (historic name Elea) was founded in 540 BC by the Greek “Focei”, a people not having accepted the Persian dominion, after wandering the Mediterranean for twenty years chose the hill as their homeland, as was foretold them by the oracle of Delphi.
The history of Velia becomes reconnected with the struggle for control of the maritime routes of the Mediterranean .
Visiting the excavations one has the sensation of being into a past still alive that refuses to be filed as a simple memory.
The systematic study of the excavations of Velia has given us an understanding of the structural layout of the colony into three nucleus: the Southern quarter (the political centre), the Northern quarter (portal activity) and at last the Acropolis (the most historic part of Elea).




Paestum Italy

The central agricultural part of the lower Cilento, Paestum, is almost entirely composed within the enclosing walls of the antique Greek colony. It is one of the most famous archaeological sites.
The plan of the walls is almost pentagonal with four grand entrances/gates, of which the most interesting being the Maritime gate.
The three Doric temples constitute the best architectural complex of Magna Grecia, of which the oldest being the Basilica, the most fascinating the Temple of Posidone.
Other significant architectural remains are: the Forum, some urban quarters, and largely the remains of religious buildings from which come many metopes, now kept at the Museum of Paestum. The excavations are open every day from 9.00 a.m. until an hour before sunset and they can be reached by the A3 motorway Salerno-Reggio Calabria then following the State road n. 18.

The National Archaeological Museum, in Via Magna Grecia, Tel. 0828/811023, is open from 09.00 until 19.00.

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