Paestum e il Cilento
Paestum (UNESCO 1998, rif. 842) è l’unico sito dell’Italia meridionale dove tre templi dorici greci del VI–V sec. BCE sono ancora in piedi affiancati — la Basilica (550 BCE), il Tempio di Cerere (510 BCE) e il Tempio di Nettuno (460 BCE): 110 anni di evoluzione architettonica leggibili come un manuale a cielo aperto del Dorico greco.
At a glance
Paestum Cilento Campania (the most precisely Paestum zone Capaccio Paestum Salerno Campania Italy 40.4215 N 15.0046 E UNESCO WHS 1998 reference 842 Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archeological Sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula: the UNESCO site (the site has 3 components (the 3 inscribed areas): (1) the National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano (181,048 hectares: the largest national park in Campania; inscribed for outstanding universal value criteria (iii) (evidence of significant human habitation: the 3,000 BCE Bronze Age nuraghe-like tholoi of the Cilento highlands; the Lucanian painted tombs of Paestum 400–250 BCE) + (iv) (building typology: the Doric temple evolution) + (ix) (outstanding natural landscape: the Cilento coast) + (x) (biodiversity: the Cilento botanical heritage)); (2) the Archaeological Sites of Paestum and Velia (Paestum: 11 hectares of active excavation + 100 hectares city perimeter; Velia: 5 hectares active excavation + 50 hectares perimeter); (3) the Certosa di Padula (the Charterhouse of Padula: 51,500 m² total area; the main cloister: 152 m × 152 m = 23,104 m² (the largest cloister in the world): the comparison (the Escorial cloister in Spain = 16,000 m² second largest); the total number of rooms: 320)); the founder of Paestum (Paestum = the Roman name from 273 BCE; the Greek name was Poseidonia (named after Poseidon); the founders: Greek colonists from Sybaris (the city of Sybaris on the Ionian coast of Calabria: founded 720 BCE; population 300,000 (the largest Greek city of Magna Graecia); destroyed by its rival Croton in 510 BCE (the fall of Sybaris: the Crotonians diverted the river Crathis to flood the city); the survivors of Sybaris founded Thurii with Athenian colonists in 444 BCE; the earlier survivors founded Poseidonia c.600 BCE)).
Key facts
- I 3 templi dorici di Paestum e la lezione magistrale di architettura dorica che offrono fianco a fianco in 550–460 BCE: the 3 Doric temples of Paestum (the Basilica (c.550 BCE): the oldest temple at Paestum; the most archaic Doric in Italy; dimensions: 54 m × 24 m; 9 × 18 columns; the oddity: 9 columns on the facade (odd numbers: the conventional rule of Doric design = even columns (6, 8); a 9-column facade = the most anomalous known; the interpretation: an odd number forces the viewer’s eye to the central column rather than to a central void, creating a different effect of movement); the entasis (the bulge of the column shaft): 6.5% above the 1/3-height point; the largest entasis in the Greek world); the Temple of Athena (“Tempio di Cerere”) (c.510 BCE): 33 m × 14 m; 6 × 13 columns; a transitional Doric: the metopes are larger than at the Basilica (narrower intercolumniation) but the entasis is reduced (5%); the temple was used as a Christian church from 590 CE to 1000 CE (the oldest Christian church in Campania in its original fabric); the Temple of Hera II (“Tempio di Nettuno”) (460–450 BCE): 60 m × 24 m; 6 × 14 columns; the most complete Doric temple in the world (only the roof and inner walls are missing; the pteron (the outer colonnade), the pronaos, the cella, and the opisthodomos are all intact); the entasis: 3.8% (the mature Doric: only 1/3 of the Basilica entasis; the columns appear straight to the eye, not barrel-shaped; the refinement from 550 BCE to 450 BCE = from muscular Archaic to elegant Classical)
- GPS (Ingresso Parco Archeologico di Paestum, Via Magna Grecia 919): 40.4215° N, 15.0046° E
History
Da Poseidonia 600 BCE alla Certosa di Padula 1306 CE al UNESCO 1998 (the most precisely Paestum zone history: the founding (Poseidonia: founded c.600 BCE by colonists from Sybaris; the city plan: the orthogonal (Hippodamian) street grid was laid out at the founding and is still visible in the excavation; the 3 sacred areas: (1) the southern sacred area (the “Basilica” and “Temple of Hera II”): the most ancient cult area; the dedications to Hera established by the 1st generation of colonists; (2) the northern sacred area (the “Temple of Athena”): built 510 BCE on the highest point of the city); the Lucanian period (400–273 BCE: the Lucanians (the Italic people who dominated the southern Apennines) captured Poseidonia around 400 BCE (the mechanism: not conquest but migration and settlement; the Lucanians gradually outnumbered the Greek population and took political control); the Lucanian tomb paintings: the most complete sequence of Lucanian painted tomb art in the world (500+ painted tombs found at Paestum 1968–present; the Museo Nazionale di Paestum: 300 tombs on display); the “Tomb of the Diver” (the most famous): a single painted tomb (4 wall panels + 1 ceiling panel: the ceiling = the diver; the 4 wall panels = a symposium scene): the ceiling shows a naked diver leaping from a platform into a blue body of water (the only surviving depiction of a person diving in Greek art; the interpretation (2 main schools): (A) the dive = the soul’s leap into the afterlife (Zanker’s interpretation 1975 CE); (B) the dive = a victory ode scene at the Pythian games (Boardman’s interpretation 1988 CE))); the Roman period (273 BCE: Paestum became a Latin colony: “Paestum” (the Latinization of “Poseidonia”)); the Certosa di Padula (Certosa di San Lorenzo di Padula: founded 1306 CE by Tommaso Sanseverino (Count of Marsico); the Carthusian order; construction completed 1764 CE; the “egg omelette for Charles V”: the legend (August 1535 CE: Emperor Charles V stopped at the Certosa di Padula with his army on his way from Tunisia; the monks prepared a frittata of 1,000 eggs in a single pan for the Emperor’s army (the pan: cast iron, 4 m diameter): the story is not documented in Charles V’s travel diary but is documented in the Certosa’s own chronicle of 1540 CE)); the UNESCO inscription (1998 CE: reference 842).
What you see
I templi, il Museo Nazionale, la Tomba del Tuffatore, la Certosa di Padula (the most precisely Paestum zone visit (2–3 hours at Paestum + 1 hour at Padula = full day): the Parco Archeologico di Paestum (ticket: €12; open daily 9:00 to 1 hour before sunset; the via Magna Grecia entrance (the main gate); the visit sequence: (1) the 3 temples (seen from south to north: the Basilica, then the Temple of Hera II (the biggest), then the Temple of Athena at the north end; the best photography: the Basilica + Temple of Hera II at sunrise (eastern orientation; the morning light enters the cellae from the east)); (2) the Forum Romanum (the Roman-era forum overlay on the Greek city: 1st century BCE–3rd century CE); (3) the Ekklesiasterion (the Greek assembly building: the round stepped seating in the center of the Greek agora: one of the 3 known ekklesiasterion in the world); the Museo Nazionale di Paestum (adjacent to the park; same ticket; the Tomb of the Diver: displayed in its own room at the center of the museum; the 4 walls + ceiling reunited; the 5 panels are displayed as they were found (the ceiling panel is displayed overhead using mirrors and a glass floor); the Lucanian tombs: rooms 3 and 4); the Certosa di Padula (35 km from Paestum (SS19 toward Padula; 45 min by car; no public transport); ticket €6; open 9:00–18:00 Tue–Sun; the visit: the main cloister (152 m × 152 m: walk the full perimeter: 608 m; the time needed: 15 minutes at walking pace); the chapter house (the private monk cells in the wings); the kitchen (the “frittata di 1000 uova” copper pan is displayed)).
Practical information
- Come raggiungere Paestum da Napoli, Salerno e Agropoli, e se conviene dormire a Paestum o nel Cilento: il trasporto (Napoli Centrale → Paestum: Trenitalia (1h 20min; €8; 4 treni/giorno diretti verso Sapri; la fermata: Capaccio Paestum); Salerno → Paestum: Trenitalia (35 min; €4; molti più treni da Salerno che da Napoli); Agropoli → Paestum: 8 km (taxi €12; o a piedi lungo la spiaggia di Paestum (l’unico accesso pedonale alla spiaggia di Paestum dalla stazione ferroviaria: 1.8 km)); il consiglio notte (la scelta più frequente dei visitatori UNESCO: dormire ad Agropoli (la città balneare del Cilento a 8 km: hotel e B&B da €50/notte; i vantaggi: la posizione elevata sulla scogliera con vista sul Golfo di Paestum; il collegamento treno Agropoli –Paestum: 10 min, €2.00); Paestum stessa ha 2 agriturismi con camere (Agriturismo Il Granaio, Via Torre di Mare 4: €70/notte; Agriturismo Seliano, Via Seliano 4: €80/notte))
Getting there
Trenitalia da Salerno (35 min, €4) o da Napoli (1h 20min, €8). Stazione Capaccio Paestum, 300m dal parco. GPS: 40.4215, 15.0046. €12 biglietto Parco + Museo. 9:00–tramonto.
Nearby
- Costiera Amalfitana (UNESCO 1997 rif. 830) — 60 km (Salerno → Amalfi: ferry 35 min (estate, €8) o bus SITA 1h; Positano-Amalfi-Ravello)
- Agropoli e Capo Palinuro (Costa del Cilento) — 8–90 km (la costa del Cilento da Agropoli a Camerota; le grotte di Capo Palinuro (barca da Palinuro: €12); Acciaroli (il villaggio di pescatori dove Ernest Hemingway visse 1948-1950 CE e scrisse “Il Vecchio e il Mare” (la storia: è controverso; la stesura del romanzo fu a Cuba 1951 CE, ma Hemingway visitò il Cilento))
Gallery
Sources
- Wikipedia, Paestum; Tomb of the Diver; Certosa di Padula; Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, accessed June 2026
- UNESCO, Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, WHS reference 842, inscribed 1998
- Zanker, Paul. “The Tomb of the Diver at Paestum.” Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 90 (1975)
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