Greek colonists named it Poseidonia, Poseidon's city, around 600 BC; the Romans called it Paestum. Malarial fevers emptied it, oblivion saved it: beneath the brambles three Doric temples remained standing, among the best preserved in the Greek world, rediscovered in the eighteenth century when the Calabria road cut the silence in two. UNESCO-listed since 1998, in the heart of the Cilento.
What to see
The Temple of Neptune, the great one, mid-fifth century BC: Doric perfection at its peak, before which Goethe made his peace with the archaic. Beside it, the so-called Basilica — the temple of Hera, the oldest — and at the walls' far end the small temple of Athena on the highest ground. In the museum, the Tomb of the Diver: the only surviving classical Greek figured painting, that dive into blue which became an icon.
Visiting
The site is flat and takes two hours; the museum claims another and is not to be skipped. The Greek walls — nearly five kilometres — can be followed by car or bicycle. Summer heat hits hard: water and a hat, as ever among the stones of the South.
Getting there
Paestum station, on the Salerno-Sapri line, is ten minutes on foot from the excavations. By car, Battipaglia or Eboli exits from the A2, then the coast road: the temples appear suddenly behind the walls.
Our editors' tip
Stay for the last hour of light, when the travertine turns from gold to copper and the temples stand nearly alone. Then complete the rite with buffalo mozzarella from the plain's farms: here the buffalo is archaeology as living as the columns.