PAESTUM - 600 BC

Paestum was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). It was established by Dorians. After its foundation by Greek colonists under the name of Poseidonia, it was eventually conquered by the local Lucanians and later the Romans. The Lucanians renamed it to Paistos and the Romans gave the city its current name. The city is famous for its Ancient Greek fresco as well as three ancient Greek temples of the Doric order, dating from about 600 to 450 BC, all of which are in a remarkable state of preservation. The city walls and amphitheater are largely intact, and the bottom of the walls of many other structures remain, as well as the cobblestone roads that still cross the city.

However, the necropolis nearby holds one of the most spectacular treasures of all that are to be found in Paestum. The “Tomb of the Diver” has the only preserved fresco, or wall painting, from the Greek classical period anywhere in the entire world. The tomb may show inspiration from the many Etruscan painted tombs; Paestum was at the time just a few miles from the border of the Greek and Etruscan zones of influence, along the River Sele.

As Pesto or Paestum, the town became a bishopric (now only titular), but it was abandoned in the Early Middle Ages, and left undisturbed and largely forgotten until the eighteenth century.

The phenomenon of the reuse of the ancient in architecture is a widespread practice in the monumental complexes of medieval Campania, in particular in the center of Salerno. The classical antiquities of Salerno come from the ruins of Lazio and Campi Flegrei, later from Paestum, towards the beginning of the 12th century. For the workers of Salerno, the territory of Paestum must have been a privileged basin during the 12th century for the procurement of building materials that responded to a dual purpose: to be easy to find and reminiscent of illustrious times. The proximity definitely offered savings on transport costs by sea, the abundance of travertine already quarried affected the costs of the stonecutters. Coastal churches and religious institutes own lands in the Paestum plain, making it easier to supply.

In the temple of Pomona, the entire group of pillars can be traced back to the so-called Doric-Corinthian temple of Paestum built around the second century BC. Blocks of travertine from the walls or temples of Paestum were used for the construction of the base of the bell tower of the cathedral of Salerno. Probably another group of four capitals from the portico and bell tower of San Matteo from the late Republican age is associated with a building in Paestum.