THE CITY OF SALERNO
60% of its territory is protected by UNESCO
Thanks to “Luci d’Artista”, a winter event born more than ten years ago, the city of Salerno has become a well-known touristic centre, attracting people all year long.
It flourished in the Middle Ages when, together with the towns on the Amalfi coast, started to weave dense trade with Byzantium and the main Mediterranean ports. Having become a cosmopolitan centre, it sees the birth of a very important medical school, the first in Europe, born thanks to the contribution of multiple cultures. To learn more about the Scuola Medica Salernitana, visit the “Giardini della Minerva”, school botanical garden. Between the 10th and 13th centuries, achieving great prestige under the Lombard rule, the city was also given the title “Opulenta Salernum”, becoming the capital city of the southern Lombard kingdom, and again under the Norman rule. The style of its historic buildings is essentially Romanesque, Byzantine and Moorish.
DURATION 2 hours
The guided tour to Salerno city centre includes the most important monuments: the Cathedral of San Matteo, the palatine chapel of San Pietro a Corte and via dei Mercanti, the historic street of the merchants. During the walk you will see also the theatre and Villa Comunale (Municipality Park), the neighbourhood of “Fornelle” and the seafront.
Places that can be added: Giardini della Minerva (Medical school’s botanical garden or Medicine school’s botanical garden?), Arechi castle, Pinacoteca provinciale (art gallery), Museo Archeologico Provinciale (Archaeological Museum), Museo Diocesano (Diocesan Museum), Museo dello Sbarco e di Salerno capitale (Museum of the World War II Landing and Salerno Capital).
WHERE Salerno (ITALY)
SPECIAL PROPOSAL
Combine the visit to Salerno with a trip to the splendid Certosa di San Lorenzo, in Padula. Only 50 minutes away by car. Or, to the Etruscan Archaeological Museum of Pontecagnano – Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Pontecagnano “Gli Etruschi di frontiera” - only 15 km away.
