Elea, better known as Velia

Elea, Velia called in Roman times, It is an ancient polis of Magna Grecia. The archaeological site is located in Contrada Piana di Velia, in the municipality of Ascea, in the province of Salerno and is part of the National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano and Alburni.

Velia Archaeological site: the origins

The city was built on a promontory and was initially called Hyele, name derived from the source behind the promontory.

The city increased the cultural importance for its School Eleatica, pre-Socratic philosophical school founded by Parmenides and carried forward by the student Zeno. The prosperity of the city continued until the end of the first century A.D., when they built numerous villas, new public buildings and thermae. But the cover-up of the ports and the construction of Via Popilia which linked Rome with the south of the peninsula cutting off Velia led the city in a progressive isolation and impoverishment.

From the end of the imperial age the last inhabitants fled to the top of the Acropolis to escape the advance of marshland. Only in the nineteenth century the archaeologist François Lenormant including the cultural and historical importance of the place lent itself to interesting studies and insights, ongoing. For its uniqueness the site was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.

Things to do in Velia

Sea and culture is the golden combination that every resorts in Southern Italy can offer. This aspect will make your holiday unique. Tourists can indeed regenerate the morning in the sea of ​​Santa Maria di Castellabate, Acciaroli, Marina di Camerota and many other beaches in the area and the afternoon can experience the thrill of walking through the streets where even strolled the great philosophers of the Eleatic school. The ancient Acropolis of Elea is home to some very suggestive open-air theater. One of the attractive elements of these excavations is the famous Porta Rosa, One example of greek arch of the fourth century.