Of all the extraordinary sites around Naples, Paestum is both the most awesome and the most romantic. In a peaceful setting on plains to the south of Salerno, with mountains rising up in the distance, three enormous Greek temples stand in a rural landscape surrounded by the ruins of their city, the bulk of their structures still extraordinarily intact two and a half thousand years after they were built. The number of flowers and lizards is far greater than the number of tour groups, and parts of the site are overgrown with trees, bushes, wild flowers and herbs. Among these may be the wild descendants of the roses for which the Greek city was once famous. Paestum site Mon-Sun 0900-1hr before sunset, last entry 1hr prior to that. €4, or combined museum/site ticket €6.50. Museum: Mon-Sun 0845-1900, last entry 1830, closed 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. €4, or combined museum/site ticket €6.50. It’s a pleasant 10-minute walk from the station, through a gate in the old city walls and down a long straight road to the site.. There are also buses which leave from the piazza Concordio in Salerno. History Poseidonia was founded by Greeks from nearby Sybaris around 600BC. Well-defended by its 3 miles of city walls (still standing, and of their time probably the best-preserved in the world), near important trade routes, and surrounded by a fertile plain, it grew wealthy and became one of the most important Greek centres in Magna Grecia. The Romans took over after 273BC and renamed it Paestum, constructing new buildings such as the baths, the amphitheatre and the Temple of Peace. Thereafter the city slowly fell into decline. Deforestation in the mountains dangerously altered the courses of local rivers, trade routes moved further north and the surrounding area became an increasingly malarial swamp and was subject to Saracen raids. In medieval times local villagers used the Temple of Athena as a Christian church, but until the middle of the 18th century the city was largely overgrown and forgotten. When in 1752 a road was built between Salerno and Agropoli, engineers stumbled upon the city while hacking their way through the forest. They continued nevertheless, their road cutting straight through the amphitheatre, an act for which they were later prosecuted. Coming from the station, turning right at the end of the road from the Porta Sirena takes you along past the amphitheatre on the left and the museum on the right to the entrance by the elegant Temple of Athena (also known erroneously as the Temple of Ceres), built around 500BC, and with both Doric and Ionic elements. Terracotta ex-voto statues of Athena were found here, and many can be seen in the museum (see below). At the southern end of the site stand two even larger Doric temples, probably both dedicated to Hera, though they are usually known as the Basilica and the Temple of Neptune. The Basilica is the oldest (circa 550BC) and the largest, with 50 tapering outer columns with slight convex curves. This method, known as entasis, accentuates the weight of the upper structure and produces the illusion of straight lines from a distance. The so-called Temple of Neptune, built around 450BC, is the best-preserved of the three, still with gables at either end. Some suggest that this temple may have been dedicated to Apollo. In comparison to the temples, the rest of the Greek and Roman town is much more ruined, though the small amphitheatre, the forum, swimming baths and various other buildings and paved roads all survive in one form or another. The Museo Nazionale di Paestum has some very fine Greek pieces from in and around the city, including terracotta statues, bronze pots (some of which were sealed with wax and still contained soft honey when they were found), perfume bottles, and various pieces of ceramics and stone carvings. There is also a room upstairs of Roman finds. Pride of place, however, goes to the unique tomb paintings, and especially the Tomb of the Diver. These frescoes are almost the only surviving examples of Greek painting, and the image on the inside of the lid of the Tomb of the Diver in particular has become a symbol of the whole civilization. Found a mile south of the city and containing remnants of a lyre, it is thought to be the tomb of a musician. The image of the diver itself represents death and the leaving of the borders of the inhabited world and of human knowledge to enter the ocean: the unknown but also the source of all other forms of knowledge. Caserta Caserta, about 12 miles north of Naples, was an entirely unremarkable town until King Charles III of Bourbon decided in 1750 that it was the perfect place, away from volcanoes and invading Saracens, to build a grand royal palace (reggia) to rival those of Versailles in France and Schönbrunn in Austria. Though a pleasant town, the palace and its grand park still dominate the place, and remain Caserta’s only real attractions. Reggia via Douet 2, Caserta, T 082-3321400. Park and Gardens: Tue-Sun 0830-1hr before sunset, last entry 2hrs before sunset. Closed Mon. Royal Apartments: Tue-Sun 0830-1930, last entry 1900. Closed Mon. Combined ticket €6. There are buses and trains to Caserta from piazza Garibaldi in Naples. The Reggia is opposite Caserta’s station. The comparison most often made about the Reggia is to Versailles. In actual fact the Reggia of today is a rather down-at-heel version of its French counterpart, though certainly in terms of scale it is every bit its equal. Designed by Naples’ great Baroque architect Luigi Vanvitelli, work was begun in 1752 and continued under Vanvitelli’s son Carlo after his father’s death in 1773. It was not until the completion of the decoration of the throne room in 1847 that the palace was properly finished. By that point King Charles’ original concept of moving the entire administration of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to Caserta had been abandoned but the palace was already well-used as a royal summer residence. After Italian unification in 1860 it was used by the military and the air force continue to occupy many of the rooms today. The building, 252 metres by 202 metres, is constructed around four large courtyards. From the octangular vestibule at the centre of the triple-arched gallery which crosses the palace, the magnificent Grand Staircase leads up to the Royal Apartments watched over by a pair of marble lions. On the first floor the throne room is perhaps the grandest of all, and the 19th-century royal bedroom and bathroom of Francis II are suitably regal. Other highlights include the Court Theatre, a scaled-down version of the San Carlo opera house in Naples and complete with an enormous crown over the royal box from which drapery hangs. The park, also designed by Vanvitelli, extends for about 2 km along a series of ponds, fountains and waterfalls with an increasingly impressive view back to the Reggia. If you don’t fancy the walk, various forms of transport are available for hire, from taxis to horses and carts to two- or four-seater pedal-powered vehicles. At the very top of the park, to the right of the fountain of Venus and Adonis as you approach from the Reggia, is the entrance to the Giardino Inglese, a slightly ridiculous, but in places very beautiful, mix of fake ruins, ponds and trees, the centrepiece of which is the semicircular Cryptoportico and the Bath of Venus. The garden was planned by Queen Maria Carolina of Habsburg and begun in 1786.
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