YOUR EXCURSION:

About an hour's drive south of Naples there is Salerno, another important Italian Provincial town. In mediaeval times Salerno was the world's capital of Medicine. The monastery of the Benedictine monks who probably founded its medical school, offered the best education then available. One of the most famous medical texts of that time was the "Regimen Sanitatis" written here in Latin and translated into almost every European language. In more modern times Salerno is best remembered for the Allied troops landing on its beaches, during the Second World War. To the east of Salerno, after Pontecagnano, Battipaglia and Eboli, there is Paestum which is one of the most important archaeological sites in Campania. Here you will see some of the best preserved Greek ruins, architecture and monuments, such as the Temple of Poseidon (Neptune), the Basilica dating from the 6th Century B.C.. In the museum you can admire the tomb of the diver, a magnificent example of Greek painting, representing a funeral banquet. On the tomb a young man diving into the water is depicted. Pay attention to the buffaloes that you will see grazing by the roadside during the drive!