Historical Excursion
museum open air
Italian culture and traditions move through its history, symbols and contaminations.
The beautiful landscape of Amalfi Coast meets countless wonders in several monumental places like Herculanum, Paestum and many more.
An open work museum worth to be discovered, places to visit in order to experience the splendors of the past that are wonders of our present day.
Come here and let’s discover them together!
HERCULANUM
Column in Herculaneum
Exposed to the Tyrrhenian Sea and located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, Herculanum, as the story goes, was founded by Heracles, hero and demigod of greek mitology that corresponds to the figure of another Roman hero: Hercules coming back from Spain. Conquered by Etruscans and Pelasgian, afterwards it was under the domination of Samnite tribe and soon after, in 89 BC, by the Roman Republic that in 30 BC offered the city the municipality state. When it became an holiday destination, in Herculaneum were realised many urban works and new public buildings like suburban and central thermae, the gym, the teather and the aqueduct, thanks to which many fountains arose. It was seriously damaged by the strong earthquacke in 62 BC. It was then buried by the tragic Vesuvius eruption in 79 BC, like Pompei. Beyond the dense layer of ash and lapillus produced by the eruption, Herculaneum was mainly affected by pyroclastic flows that after their solidification caused the procuction of an tuff layer of 12/15 cm. It allowed buildings, objects, food and woods to be preserved until today. In 1997, like Pompei, Herculanum was declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.
PAESTUM
Paestum, Temple of Ceres
Even if his foundation is uncertain, it is held to be true that Paestum was originally a greek colony risen in the middle of VII century under the name of Poseidonia, in honor of greek Sea God, Poseidon. Once a major ancient greek city in the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Grecia, it was after under the control of Lucanians, who called the city Paistom. Afterwords, in 273 BC, it was taken away from the lucanian confederacy by Romans who occupied the city as a colony called from that moment Paestum. During the Roman age, the city changed his typical guise of Greek Polis and thanks to urbanistic works were realised many buildings like the tribunal, the amphitheater and many temples, symbols of social wellness and prosperity. But it was just in the beginning of XX century that the first archeological digs started and in 1950 they brought to light the ancient town of Paestum. Still today, Paestum is the shining and best preserved example of doric Architecture in Magna Grecia.
