Excursions

Pæstum

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PAESTUM: Excavations and Museum
Duration: Half Day
Paestum is one of the most important archaeological sites in Italy. Located in the southern part of the Gulf of Salerno, said in ancient Sinus Paestanus. The city was founded around 600 BC by Sybaris Greeks as Poseidonia. At the end of the fifth century BC Poseidon was defeated in war by the Lucani, a population of Samnite race that was replaced by the Greeks in the city government and renamed it Paestum. The Imperial Age monuments of Paestum damage the image of a provincial town with limited building activity since the beginning of the second century A.D., started at a slow steady decline since. The museum collects and presents objects, often unique in the world, telling this historical event.

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