PAESTUM
SITUATED VERY CLOSE TO THE COAST, ON THE SOUTHERN
STRETCH OF THE GULF OF SALERNO, PAESTUM WAS
FOUNDED BY THE SYBARITES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE
SIXTH CENTURY BC, ON A FERTILE, BUT SWAMPY PLAIN,
IN THE IMMEDIATE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE RIVER
SILARUS, NAVIGABLE AT THAT TIME.
WITH 3 SUPERB DORIC TEMPLES, COMPARABLE FOR THEIR
STATE OF PRESERVATION, ONLY TO THE THESEION IN
ATHENS, AND TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER INNUMERABLE
REMAINS OF ITS ILLUSTRIOUS HISTORY, MANY
DISPLAYED IN THE LOCAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM,
PAESTUM IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREAS IN ITALY AND WITHOUT DOUBT
THE MOST IMPORTANT GREEK SITE IN THE WEST.
THE HOTEL IS LOCATED 49 KM FROM SALERNO.
IN THE NORTHERN CORNER OF THE GULF THAT BEARS ITS
NAME LIES SALERNO, THE CAPITAL OF THE MOST
SOUTHERLY PROVINCE OF CAMPANIA.
IN 1077, AFTER A LONG SIEGE, IT WAS CONQUERED BY
ROBERT THE GUISCARD, WHO MADE IT THE CAPITAL OF
THE DUCHY OF APULIA.
IN THIS PERIOD SALERNO REACHED THE HEIGHT OF ITS
SPLENDOR AS WITNESSED IN ITS SPLENDID DUOMO, ONE
OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EXAMPLES OF ROMANESQUE ART
IN CAMPANIA, AND THE MEDICAL SCHOOL, ALREADY IN
EXISTENCE IN THE NINTH CENTURY, EXPANDED
ENORMOUSLY, REACHING A PEAK OF FAME IN THE
TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
AFTER A LONG DECLINE, BEGINNING IN THE SWABIAN
PERIOD, THE CITY ONLY RECOVERED AFTER THE
UNIFICATION OF ITALY AND IN 1944, EVEN IF ONLY
BRIEFLY *FROM 12 FEBRUARY TO 15 JULY*, RECAPTURED
ITS ANCIENT GLORY, BECOMING THE SEAT OF THE
ITALIAN GOVERNMENT.
A LIVELY AGRICULTURAL, INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL
CENTER, BOASTING AN IMPORTANT PORT, ONE OF THE
LARGEST ON THE TYRRHENIAN COAST, IT IS A CRUCIAL
COMMUNICATIONS POINT BETWEEN TWO OF THE
BEST-KNOWN TOURIST AREAS OF CAMPANIA, THE AMALFI
AND THE CILENTO COASTS.
NOWADAYS SALERNO HAS A PREVALENTLY MODERN
APPEARANCE, ALTHOUGH IT STILL HAS AN INTERESTING
AND CHARACTERISTIC HISTORIC CENTER, WITH A WEALTH
OF NOTABLY IMPORTANT AND BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS AND
MONUMENTS.
THE HOTEL IS LOCATED 78 KM FROM AMALFI.
ON ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS STRETCHES OF THE
SALERNO COASTLINE, IN A SPLENDID PANORAMIC
POSITION, STANDS AMALFI, ONE OF THE MOST
FASCINATING TOWNS IN THE CAMPANIA REGION AND OF
ITALY AS A WHOLE.
THE MOST ANCIENT OF THE MARINE REPUBLICS REACHED
ITS GREATEST SPLENDOR IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH
CENTURIES, WHEN IT TOOK ON A LEADING ROLE IN
TRADE WITH THE ORIENT.
IN FACT, THE MARITIME LAWS OF THE CITY, CONTAINED
IN THE FAMOUS TABULA AMALPHITANA, FOR CENTURIES
CONSTITUTED THE COMMERCIAL CODE FOR ALL THE
MEDITERRANEAN.
THE TOWN PRESERVES IMPORTANT EVIDENCE OF ITS
PRESTIGIOUS PAST THE CATHEDRAL, DEDICATED TO ST.
ANDREW, DOMINATING THE SQUARE OF THE SAME NAME
FROM ABOVE STEEP STEPS, THE PARADISE CLOISTER, A
DELIGHTFUL CONSTRUCTION IN ARABIAN-STYLE DATING
TO THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY AND THE RUINS OF THE
ARSENAL OF THE REPUBLIC, TWO NAVES COVERED WITH A
POINTED ARCHED TRANSEPT WHERE, IN THE CITY*S
PERIOD OF GREATEST SPLENDOR, THE FASTEST AND
LARGEST GALLEYS OF THE AGE WERE BUILT.
THE IMPOSING NATURE OF THESE BUILDINGS, THE
FASCINATION OF TYPICALLY MEDITERRANEAN
ARCHITECTURE, MADE UP OF MAZY LANES AND
CHARACTERISTIC WHITE HOUSES PILED ONE UPON THE
OTHER, THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF THE PLACE, THE MILD
CLIMATE, THE WELL-EQUIPPED AND EFFICIENT
ACCOMMODATION STRUCTURES MAKE AMALFI ONE OF THE
MOST EXCLUSIVE AND FAMOUS RESORTS FOR NATIONAL
AND INTERNATIONAL TOURISM.
THE HOTEL IS LOCATED 89 KM FROM POMPEI.
A SMALL TOWN IN THE PROVINCE OF NAPLES, LOCATED
ON ONE OF THE SLOPES OF VESUVIUS, MODERN POMPEII,
DEVELOPED AROUND THE SANCTUARY FOUNDED IN 1876 BY
BARTOLO LONGO, STANDS RIGHT NEXT TO THE ANCIENT
SETTLEMENT, BURIED BY THE ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS IN
79 AD.
THE OLD CITY, GROWING OUT OF THE FUSION OF
VARIOUS OSCAN CENTERS, PERHAPS AT THE END OF THE
SEVENTH CENTURY BC, RECEIVED AN INFLUX FROM
NEIGHBORING GREEK SETTLEMENTS, WAS LATER OCCUPIED
FIRST BY THE ETRUSCANS AND THEN THE SAMNITES.
THE CITY, AFTER CENTURIES OF OBLIVION, WAS
REDISCOVERED AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
THE EXCAVATIONS, BEGAN IN 1748 ON THE ORDERS OF
CHARLES OF BOURBON, AND WERE CONDUCTED EVER MORE
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