Last weekend we took the train to the city of Salerno where we stayed in the Palazzo Conforti, an old palace built at the end of the 18th century. Our room was grand, with a view of the harbor and a classic colorful painting that covered the ceiling! We visited an old church where a Catholic service featured choral singing and gorgeous organ music. Next day we took the ferry to Positano on the Amalfi Coast, which is really just a mind blower. Small towns and villages climb up sheer cliffs of limestone that are incised by vertical deep gorges, looks like it must be an actively uplifting peninsula. And I swam in the Tyrrhenian Sea! On Day 3 we visited the ancient Greek city of Poseidonia (Paestum) which flourished between ~ 550 to 450 BC, with large temples to Athena, Neptune and Hera. I learned that in the 5th century BC, the Greeks employed the local people, known as Italics or Lucanians, as mercenaries to fight wars for them. However, in the 4th century BC the Italic people took over the city and they became the ruling class. Later the Romans moved in, and the city prospered during the early years of the Roman Empire. Finally, silting up of the mouth of the Silarus River created a malarial swamp and Paestum was deserted after being sacked by Muslim raiders in AD 871. A few photos below.
