VELIA: SEA, SUN, AND EXCAVATIONS IN THE ANCIENT TOWN OF MAGNA GRAECIA
 Culture or relax? A great tan or an intellectual holiday?
Fortunately you won't have to choose and Ascea, that includes the ancient town of Velia, offers a wide range of possibilities for tourists, like most Italian regions: a wonderful sea, gastronomy, excavations. Velia is an interesting town and in Velia there was the settlement of the Eleatic school of philosophy.
Travelling is a great activity because travelling you can forget stress and worries; you can relax but also enrich your cultural heritage thanks to many interesting towns of Italy. If you choose to visit the National Park of Cilento and Parco di Diano, we recommend visiting Ascea. Ascea is usually considered the right place to spend a holiday made only of sea and fun. The sea is beautiful, the beach is sandy and wide and Ascea is especially chosen by families with children. The geographic position is strategic: 22 km from Palinuro and 18 km from Acciarioli.
 This town keeps also a treasure, the remains of one of the most important towns of Magna Graecia, Velia or Elea (Velia is the Roman name, Elea the Greek one). Velia was very important for commerce between Greece and Italy and became very rich and prosperous thanks to the two ports. It was very well defended thanks also to the mountains that protected it in a natural way. In Velia there was the settlement of the Eleatic school of philosophy, to which Parmenides, Zeno and Melissus of Samos belonged. During Roman period, there was also an important school of medicine.
 Walking in the ancient agora is a very charming experience: it is the place where philosophers walked and talked about their theories. People always went to the agora to meet others, to talk with other people. People still have this habit in Southern Italy. The most interesting part of these excavations is the entrance called Porta Rosa, the only example of Greek arch of IV century. The acropolis of Velia includes the ancient theatre and the base of the ancient temple on which a Middle Ages fortress was built between X and Xi century a.C. This fortress was the heart of the ancient Middle Ages town. There was also a church dedicated to Our Lady (of 950 a.C.). Today the church contains the findings from the excavations.
Once visited the excavations, you can choose to visit the whole Cilento, an ancient land rich of traditions. You will have the possibility to taste typical dishes and to drink the delicious local wines. |
