ROMAN TIMES II

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 The civil system, distinct between the Order and the People (Ordo Populusque) provided that the administration of the peculiar public and the care of public affairs remained with the citizens and the nobles, and that the offices remained divided between the nobility and the people. The certainly functional buildings of Roman propaganda are those intended for public events, and in particular the theaters and amphitheaters. Unfortunately, no monumental remains of the time have come down to us, because the Roman remains lie at a considerable depth compared to today's city, buried by catastrophic floods such as that of the 4th / 5th century AD.

Salerno at the time of the Empire already had a reputation as a holiday city. Quinto Orazio Flacco, in the 15th epistle published in 20 BC, having an eye disease, perhaps ophthalmia, decides to go on vacation to the sea and wants to escape from too well-known places such as Baia. He then turns to his friend Numonio Vala and asks him: "What is the climate in Salerno, Vala? What people live there? And how does the road look like?". What interests the Lucanian poet is a pleasant climate, the possibility of eating good fish, "a generous, lovable wine, which frees me from thoughts, runs in my veins and in my heart full of hope".

Here, in 43 BC, was also the villa of the consul Caio Plozio Planco, who, in order not to give up the ointments with the intense scent of the rose of Paestum, prohibited by the Roman Triumvirs, Licinius and Julius Caesar, preferred to be killed.

The Roman Salerno lasted for 660 years that is, it has had plenty of time to develop with more or less important public, private and religious buildings: being the seat of several temples (dedicated to Bacchus, Venus, Juno and Priapo), it received the title of "Collegio degli Augustali" demonstrating the great importance it held during the Roman period.

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