Ponte di Legno (4-5/12/2015)

My brother and I decided to join Davide, our aunt's boyfriend, on a ski trip to Ponte di Legno. Even though it had been sunny and dry all month we were hoping the artificial snow would be also good. After arriving Friday night we had a quick dinner and the hotel we were staying at in the small village of Temú and went straight to bed. The next day we woke up early at 7am to start skiing right away. After a quick but filling breakfast we headed to the nearby slopes and started skiing. Most of Temú's slopes were in the shade so the snow wasn't bad, however we decided to use the well connected lifts that took us through Ponte di Legno and eastwards in Passo del Tonale which was really bad since it was completely under the sun and the snow was already mushy in just two hours after the opening of the slopes. We then decided to head all the way up to the Presena Glacier, which reaching a height of 3000m was the only spot with real snow. The slope there was amazing, but it was just one and not too long, so after 4 times we descended it we then went back to Temú's slopes. We had a nice lunch outside while sunbathing and then decided to head back to the hotel since we were getting tired and the slopes weren't skiable anymore by how much mushy the snow had become. So after waiting a few minutes for Davide, we got in the car and headed for Ponte di Legno to walk a bit, around its town center. The town looked really nice with some old buildings remaining and some really nice wooden bridges spanning a small river, probably those from which the town took its name from. Being it dark already it was really nice to see the many lights and decorations all around town which had been set up and ready for the incoming Christmas holidays. After a relaxing stroll around we headed back to our hotel and had a plentiful dinner with the delicious local food. The next day we woke up early again but this time decided to hike rather than ski due to the mushy snow we did not enjoy the day before. The owner of our hotel suggested to us a nice hike which would take us to some WWI trenches nearby. So we set off and passed the small village of Villa Dalegno, and after heading up a steep path which led us through forest first, the open fields and finally up the rocky side of the mountain to our destination: the Bocchette di Val Massa. Where two mountains made of different types of rock met, there was a narrow pass that seemed of strategical importance during world war I when the italian army decided to build what seemed to be a small Great Wall similar to that in China but obviously much smaller in size. It was nonetheless breathtaking to look at since it wiggled its way up the side of the snow capped mountain and making us wonder how much it must have taken the soldiers to construct it. It was also particular in that it was entirely made in schist which was taken form the nearby mountain and surely contrasted with the rock from the other mountain it sat on. We walked the full length of it, looking through the machine gun positions and the tunnels and huts built by the soldiers who took shelter in such a cold and unpredictable environment. After a quick and unsatisfying sandwich we decided to start heading back down, after a couple of hours we reached Villa Dalegno again we luckily found a restaurant which was still open and decided to eat there being still very hungry. We were then back in Temú where Davided had just come back, ready to leave and go back home in Vicenza, after a pleasant yet quite tiring 5 hour hike. 

The Presena Glacier

Ponte di Legno

View from Villa Dalegno

The hiking path

View of the Adamello mountains

View from the top of the trenches

View of the complex of the trenches

Prato and Pistoia (20/11/2015)

It took a while before everyone was ready to leave, so we took a late morning train headed to the nearby town of Prato. After getting off the train I immediately started noticing the high number of chinese immigrants in the city (the highest in Italy) while walking towards the city center. We walked through the medieval streets and reached one of the main squares: Piazza del Duomo. As the name suggest, this is where the Cathedral with its beautiful serpentine decorated exterior. Started in the 10th century it was majorly modified in the 15th century, particularly on the facade, in the late Gothic-Romanesque style, though the bell tower still dates from the 12th century. One really rare and interesting thing was the external pulpit built by Michelozzo and Donatello which was used, and still is, to show to the public the Girdle of Mary on special occasions such as Christmas, Easter etc. We then entered inside, which was also decorated with serpentine, and the far end chapels contained some nice 14th and 15th century frescoes. We didn't have time to see the museum annexed to the Duomo, so after heading out and seeing the really nice marble fountain at the center of the square. After walking some more we reached the small Piazza del Comune, which still is the center of the city's administration. One side was the newer 17-18th century Town hall which also hosts the civic museum which we didn't see, while on the southern side was the fortified Palazzo Pretorio dating from the 13th century with beautiful arched windows decorating its sides. From there we went a little further and reached the really nice square of San Francesco, with the church of St. Francis on its eastern end, and  a nice column in the center with a small but pretty fountain right next to it. Right behind the church, we reached the large Piazza Santa Maria delle Carceri, which takes its name from the large Basilica on the northern end which was unfortunately closed. Looming over the square is the larges squared Castello dell'Imperatore, so called because of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II. Built in the 13th century it has some massive white stoned walls, with 3 fortified towers per side. We were able to climb the walls for free, where we had a beautiful, despite the cloudy day, view of the city.It was time to go back to the train station and head to our next destination; Pistoia. After a short train ride, we reached the town of Pistoia and headed directly towards the city center. After a 10 minute walk we decided to rest and have a snack in a bar. We found one right in front of the church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas with a beautiful decorated side in white marble and green serpentine typical of the Romanesque of the area. I had a local sweet and then we headed on towards the main square. We reached the large Piazza del Duomo, with beautiful buildings all around it, thus conisdered one of the best looking in Italy (though very nice I would not consider it amongst the most beautiful). Right on its southern part stood the beautiful Baptistery, nearly larger and surely more imposing than the Cathedral itself. Both and with the immense bell tower were built in the 12th century in the typical Romanesque style in white marble and green serpentine. Though unadorned and without frescoes, apart from a beautiful central baptismal font, the Baptistery still had a nice looking inside, though surely much better from the outside. We then went inside the Cathedral; though badly lit we could still see most of the Romanesque structure and columns. It had some later additions, such as the baroque presbytery and altars,and some older parts with medieval frescoes still remaining. the main things inside were a silver altarpiece dedicated to St James and a 13th century crucifix. After exiting the Duomo we headed down a nice medieval street which took us in front of the Ospedale del Ceppo, One of the oldest and most prestigious hospitals in Europe and quite prolific during the Renaissance when it had its facade decorated in a beautiful ceramic glaze frieze with figures depicting the acts of mercy. Walking further on we reached the Church of Sant'Andrea which didn't look like too much from the inside, but once inside, though very badly lit, I marveled at the beautiful one of the most famous pulpits in the world. The masterpiece by Giovanni Pisano is a beautiful example of Gothic pulpit with incredible decorations, though it could be more appreciated if it were well lit. From there it was time to go so we walked back through the city center and reached the train station where we took the next train headed to Florence, hoping to come back to both these great cities which I wasn't able to visit thoroughly.

The Piazza del Duomo with the Cathedral of Prato

The Palazzo Pretorio

The Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri and the Castello dell'Imperatore

The Duomo of Pistoia

The Romanesque Baptistery

One of the streets in Pistoia

Florence (19-24/11/2015)

This time I was in Florence, guest at my portuguese friend Carolina's house, who was there studying for a semester. My good friend Simona from Bulgaria had also come, so it was a great occasion to meet up again. I took a really cheap ride with Megabus from Padova which cost me only 17 euros with return included. I arrived at 1:30pm and waited about an hour for Simona to arrive, we then went to sleep to be able to start visiting in the late morning. The house was located just by the train station so it was easy to get right at the heart of the city. We obviously woke up pretty late but by noon we were out having brunch and ready to stroll around. We reached the Basilica di San Lorenzo first, and just gave a quick look at the cloister since to visit the church we needed to buy a ticket.  Walking a few hundred meters we reached the beautiful Piazza del Duomo, with three beautiful monuments at its center: the Cathedral, Giotto's Campanile and the Baptistry. We entered the amazing Cathedral and walked seeing its impressive nave and columns; the way to the altar was blocked so I decided to head out and back in through the prayer entrance where a guard said we could enter only if we wanted to pray. I told him we were and in the meantime enjoyed the beautiful frescoed dome. We then went out and headed for the nearby Piazza della Repubblica, once the site of the Old market and the Jewish ghetto it took its present form when Florence, after the unification of Italy, was capital for a few years. The new capital needed a grand square to show it's importance and this place was considered to be squalid and needed new large streets, thus the decision to create the square. Most of the old buildings were dismantled and only a few important ones such as the Fish market Loggia was reconstructed in another part of the city. Only the Column of the Abundance still remains at the center of the square. Carolina then suggested we climb to the rooftop of the Rinascente, a department store, where we had a beautiful view over the rooftops and of the Cathedral. Once back down in the streets we walked a bit and reached the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo known as the Loggia del Porcellino due to the famous Fontana del Porcellino or fountain of the piglet. This fountain actually representing a boar, is a modern copy of a bronze 17th century copy of a roman marble one, and it is said to bring good luck if its nose is stroked and a coin let fall through the grates from the boar's mouth. We then turned east and reached the beautiful Piazza della Signoria with the famous Palazzo Vecchio. This palace is now the town hall and used to be the seat of power of the ruling body of Florence. It was first built in the 13th century, around a preexisting tower modified in the same century by Arnolfo di Cambio, and had some additional features added the following two centuries particularly in its expansion eastward. Right in front of the palace are several important statues and monuments. The most beautiful of all is probably the Fountain of Neptune built in 1565, right beside it is the equestrian monument of Cosimo I from 1594, then right at the entrance door is the copy of the famous Michelangelo's David which was moved in the early 20th century inside the Accademia and next to it the original statue of Hercules and Cacus dating from 1534. Right beside the statues is the Loggia dei Lanzi, built in the 14th century and used to house the assemblies of the people, it now contains several beautiful renaissance statues like Perseus with the head of Medusa (1545), Hercules and Nessus (1599), copy of Donatello's Judith and Holofernes (which is now inside the Palazzo Vecchio) and several others. We walked further on till we reached the immense Piazza Santa Croce with its impressive Basilica of Santa Croce. The square has been the site of the violent but much followed Calcio Fiorentino ( a type of soccer/boxe/rugby) since the 15th century, and still now every year it is held here when the piazza is completely covered with sand for the occasion.
The following day we took a trip to Prato and Pistoia (which I will write a post about) and at night we decided to go out. Our friend Sebastiano had come to visit too and so with him and Carolina's roommate Rosangela we headed to a place called Red Garter that was a sort of restaurant that becomes a nightclub after midnight. We stayed out quite late and came back around 5am; the following day was rainy and we woke up in the afternoon so we didn't do anything of note. We did walk around the city a bit right after dinner and went to see the wonderful Ponte Vecchio spanning across the Arno river. The following day we decided to go see the Uffizi Gallery, one of the most prominent art museums in Italy and in the world. The museum is huge and it took us quite well over 3 hours and we were visiting quite fast too; since there are two complete floors filled with rooms, and also the last part wasn't even open so it would have taken at least an extra half hour. The visit goes in chronological order and start with some roman sculptures and continues on with the early middle ages with famous artists such as Giotto and Cimabue. Then there's the first renaissance with artists like Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca; further on a whole room of Botticelli and another of Leonardo with some incredible works. There is also the tribune which is a heptagonal room that used to be the original museum under the rule of Francesco I Medici in 1584. Then the Renaissance room with artists from all over Italy and Europe such as Durer, Bellini, Mantegna, Correggio, Memling and others. Again other rooms with artits such as Titian, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, Veronese, Caravaggio and european ones like Rembrandt, Velazquez, El Greco, Goya, Rubens, Van Dyck etc. Along the rooms was a beautifully decorated corridor with splendid ancient sculptures dating to the Renaissance and ancient roman times. It was a truly great visit and well worth our time. It was already dark once we exited the museum and we decided to walk across the river to see a bit of the other side. We passed on the Ponte Vecchio, with its wonderful arches and completely covered and sided with shops. The day after it rained most of the day so we decided to relax at home, then right after sunset it stopped so we decided to take the bus to Piazzale Michelangelo, a large square overlooking the city from the south east across the river. The view from up there was amazing, and we could see all the city with its iconic monuments; the Cathderal, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Ponte Vecchio etc. We spent quite some time enjoying the view and then descended down into the city and walked back home. For dinner I wanted my friends to try the typical dish of Florence; the Fiorentina, a really large steak usually around 1.5kg which is said to taste really good. I found some suggestions online and I opted for the Antica Trattoria da Tito which had a really nice informal atmosphere with waiters joking around and making fun of each other. The food was really good especially the steak, and they also offered us a really good Pappa al Pomodoro, a type of tomato soup with bread dipped in.
On my last in Florence I decided to visit the museum complex of the Cathedral. This includes five site with a single ticket, which being part of FAI I had to pay only 3 euros instead of 15. We decided to climb Giotto's Campanile first; the beautiful bell tower that reached 84m in height. It was actually built by three architects the first of which, Giotto, saw only the beginning before his death in 1337. After Giotto came Andrea Pisano who oversaw most of the remaining construction until 1348 when he died from the black plague, several years later in 1359 Francesco Talenti was able to conclude it and this is how we see it today. The view from the top was amazing, one side was the whole roof of the Cathedral with the immense Dome looming out, and all around the beautiful city of Florence with its many palaces and churches. After descending the tower we headed for the next site, which was the church of Santa Reparata that used to stand where the Cathedral now sits. It is now used as the crypt of the cathedral and there are some really nice early christian mosaics and medieval sarcophagi. From there we headed out and into the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, which used to be since the beginning the association that still nowadays oversees the construction and restoration of the Cathedral. The museum is very modern and hosts all the beautiful statues, decorations that were part of the Cathedral and are now kept there safely. Among the many statues, there are some really famous ones such as the Deposition by Michelangelo and the Penitent Magdalene by Donatello. Also on display are the Gates of Paradise, the original eastern door of the Baptistery made by Ghiberti between 1425 and 1452 and completely gilded detailing stories from the Old Testament. Among the many statues there were also models of the cathedral and of the facade that had to be constructed in the 19th century and made to resemble the rest of the Gothic church. We then headed for the last site since the Baptistery was unfortunately closed for filming all day. So we entered the church once again and climbed the flight of stairs leading to the top of the Dome. The so called Cupola of Brunelleschi, was as the name suggests built by the architect Brunelleschi who ingeniously found a way to finally find a solution to the open space that was left over a hundred years after the construction of the church. In fact many architects could not figure out how to close the immense space without the dome collapsing on itself due to its size and weight. Many had rejected the only possible way which was to use flying buttresses since they were believed to be dated and used by their enemies the French. A possible solution was to adopt the ancient roman way of keeping a hole in the middle and then covering it with an external cover, probably in wood, so it wouldn't rain inside. Brunelleschi however found the incredible solution of actual building two domes one inside the other so as to reduce the size and weight of either one. The first was built in light wood and the second in brick which was much lighter than stone, in between he left some space and connected the two domes with iron bars and wooden beams to keep the weight balanced and holding down on the stone structure of the cathedral. It is thus considered the start of a new form of architecture that completely reject medieval forms and ways of building now known as the Renaissance, being Florence the birth of this new style. From then on it was considered for many centuries to be the largest dome in the world until modern techniques came around, but it is still considered the largest brick one in the world. Such an architectural feat was then frescoed from the inside by Vasari and Zuccari in 1579 which we could observe closely while we walked towards the top. The view from up there was probably even better than the one from the bell tower and in addition to seeing the whole city we could see the hills and mountains all along the north some of which were even slightly snow capped. After our extensive visit we were quite hungry so we decided to have a quick lunch at the Antico Vinaio, a really popular place both among locals and tourists, and probably the most famous in Florence, that serves amazing sandwiches with all kinds of things inside them. I had a delicious one with porchetta, soft cheese, salad and truffle which gave it a spicy but great flavor. We could also drink as much wine as we wanted, so we decided to sit outside, since it was full of people, and took a bottle with us. After this impressive lunch we still had time to visit so we crossed the river and decided to visit the beautiful Palazzo Pitti with its even more beautiful Boboli Gardens. We entered the Gardens first, which serve as public park for the residents of Florence but have a cost if entered as a tourist. The beauty of this garden is all about its architecture, since it was built in the 15th century by the Medici family in the Italian way, perfectly mixing nature with architecture and creating a masterpiece. There are statues and fountains and pathways all around, perfectly cut bushes and an immense open air theater with an ancient egyptian obelisk at its center using the Palace and the city as a beautiful backdrop. After a long stroll we visited the several museums inside the Pitti Palace, which was initially- built in the Renaissance style in 1549 for the Medici family, later served as the ruling residence of the Grand dukes of Tuscany and then as royal residence of the kings of Italy until its donation to the public in 1919.  Since the museums were many and we didn't have much time we opted for the combined ticket of the Silver museum, the Costume gallery and the Porcelain museum (which we didn't see due to lack of time). The Silver museum had some really nice silvers, cameos and works with gemstones, most of which owned by Lorenzo de Medici. The rooms which contained all the works were probably even more interesting than the pieces themselves, at least in my opinion, since they were richly decorated and painted during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Costume gallery also hosted in nicely decorated rooms had some really interesting costumes dating from the 16th century, like the extremely rare funeral clothes of Grand Duke Cosimo I, and all the way to the modern era. Once our visit was over, since the museum was closing, we headed back home since I had to leave not long after. In fact I just had the time to quickly pack and say goodbye to my friends and got on the bus back to Padova, hoping to come back to this beautiful city to able to finish my thorough visit.

The facade and tower of the Cathedral

The back of the Cathedral

View of the Palazzo Vecchio

Statue of Hercules and Cacus

Splendid view of Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo

View of Brunelleschi's Cupola from Giotto's Campanile

Detail of the Gates of Paradise

Detail of the frescoes decorating the interior of the Brunelleschi's Cupola

View of the city from Brunelleschi's Cupola

Florence cityscape from the Boboli Gardens

Boboli gardens and Palazzo Pitti

One of the decorated rooms of Palazzo Pitti

The Ponte Vecchio

Monza (22/10/2015)

I left Milan with my brother not too early in the morning since he had a day off from work and wanted to visit a city on a day trip with me. We got a bus from his house to San Cristoforo train station and from there got a regional ticket on line S9 (cost was around 2,50€) to the city of Monza. Once we reached the town we headed straight to the tourist office, which stands right across the street and asked for information regarding the opening and closing hours of the main monuments. So we started walking towards the city center and reached Piazza Roma, where the really nice 13th century medieval town hall, called the Arengario, sits with its beautiful arches and red brick structure. From there we headed for the museum of the Duomo; there we asked when the next guided tour to the Treasury was going to take place and they answered that we had to wait about another hour. So we decided to look for a place to eat in the meantime since it was already 1pm. We found a nice place called Antica Trattoria dell'Uva, where I had a really nice risotto tastasal (with a type of sausage): very good!  After lunch we headed back to the Cathedral's museum where the visit to the Chapel of Theodelinda took place. The Chapel built at the end of the 14th century is completely frescoed with a series of beautiful stories regarding the Longobard Queen Theodelinda. These frescoes date to mid 15th century by lombard artist brothers Zavattari and depict the queen's marriage, meeting with her first husband Authari, the latter's death in battle and her new marriage with Agilulf. The extreme beauty and vivid colors of the frescoes, in particular the gold still found on the queen's vests and warriors' armors make it extremely famous and important. However, what is even more beautiful and important, is the incredible Iron Crown of Lombardy; both a reliquary and one of the oldest royal insignia of Christendom. It was made probably around the 8th or 9th centuries and consists of a circlet of gold believed to be fitted around a central iron band, which according to legend was beaten out of a nail of the True Cross. It had been used to crown kings in Italy since the medieval times up until its last coronation with Napoleon. It was just marvelous to look at and definitely just worth the whole trip there. It was unfortunate however that no photographs, not of the crown nor of the frescoes, were permitted. After this wonderful visit, we went downstairs to visit the museum containing the main relics and artifacts that used to be on display inside the cathedral. I was even more amazed here because so many beautiful and important historical artifacts were displayed. Among others were the crown of Theodelinda from the 6th century, Stilicho's Diptych (ivory tablet) from the 5th century, Agilulf's cross from the 7th century and Berengar's one from the 10th etc. Another interesting thing inside the museum was the dress the Alabardieri of the Duomo wore: a ceremonial armed guard, similar to the Papal swiss guard, that served the Cathedral of Monza (a rare privilige). After thoroughly visiting this splendid museum. we decided to visit the actual Cathedral itself. So we entered through the side door from the museum and looked around. The Duomo was built in a really elegant Gothic style in the 14th century, but was later refurbished, especially the interior paintings and decorations, in the Baroque way. Right outside the museum's entrance are a few medieval half timbered houses still standing and at the end of the street a medieval tower known as Theodelinda's tower. Walking back through the city center we headed north, and passed by the gothic church of San Pietro which was unfortunately closed. We then reached and entered the church of Santa Maria al Carrobiolo, with a Baroque interior. From there we headed further north and reached our last stop for the day: the immense Royal Villa. Surrounded by one of the largest enclosed parks in Europe (it also has a famous race track in its northern part), the villa was built between 1777 and 1780 when Lombardy was under Austrian rule for the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. It was then taken over by Napoleon and then later on from 1861 to 1901 used as a royal residence of the kings of Italy. It was abandoned following the murder of Humbert I right outside the villa. It is now a beautiful museum showing the rooms of Humbert and his wife with all the original furniture. There was a guided visit that showed us all around though it wasn't permitted to take photographs here either. While we were waiting for the tour we also got the chance to explore the English landscape gardens right behind the villa, with beautiful lakes, trees and also lovely animals such as squirrels all over and even a really small friendly hedgehog. Walking back towards the train station we briefly stopped to look at the Ponte dei Leoni, or Bridge of the Lions, built on top of a much older ancient roman one, it was rebuilt in the 18th century with some nice statues of lions on its top. After our really enjoyable visit of the city of Monza we took the train back to Milan and back home.

The beautiful chapel of Theodelinda

The cross of Berengar

The crown of Theodelinda

Reliquary with St John the Baptist's tooth

The interior of the Duomo

Detail of the Duomo's facade

The Royal Villa of Monza

View of the villa from the English landscape gardens

A squirrel of the park

A tiny hedgehog

Cava de' Tirreni (30/09/2015)

On this day my aunt told me we were going to have lunch at my cousin's grandparents' house in Cava de Tirreni, about 20 minutes from Salerno. We left the house at 12:30 and went to pick my cousin from school and then headed on towards Cava. The day was very nice and quite hot for late september, around 25 degrees celsius. After a really nice and filling lunch I decided to head out and explore the town center. The city center is unique since it feels a lot like a town from the northeast of Italy. That is because the main street is lined with beautiful porticoes on both sides, a very rare thing in the south of Italy. I tried visiting the churches around town though I found out they were mostle closed until 4:30. So I went back to the house and half an hour later, my aunt drove me to see the famous Abbey of Cava de Tirreni. What caught my eye at first was its location: inside a splendid gorge surrounded by forests and surely a place of peace and tranquility. Built around the 12th century, it was nearly fully refurbished in the 18th century, except a few parts such as the cloisters which are still Gothic. The monastery was already closed (it was open only during the morning) but at least I got to see the beautiful Baroque church. Inside it was beautifully decorated with many marbles and paintings, and there was still the 12th century pulpit remaining very similar to the one in the Duomo of Salerno. Unfortunately I was not able to see the amazing and famous Library, the gothic cloisters and the longobard cemetery inside the monastery, but that just means I shall return here again. We then drove back into Cava de Tirreni were I was able to visit the Sanctuary of St Francis & St Anthony that had a nice renaissance/baroque facade and bell tower but was quite unadorned and modern inside since it was mostly destroyed during an earthquake in the 1980s.
Even though quite small I really liked visiting this town and I hope to come back and finish my visit of the Abbey.

The porticoes of Cava de Tirreni

Sanctuary of St Francis and St Anthony

The church of the Abbey

The large complex of the Abbey

Paestum & Agropoli (29/09/2015)

I took the 8:37 train from Salerno train station after a 40 minute walk from the house. I reached Paestum train station, 30 minutes later and headed straight for the archaeological site. There is a beautiful countryside road sided by cypresses that seems to take you back to roman times. All around the archaeological site there's still the roman wall that used to surround the town, and well preserved too. I reached the museum where I bought the ticket, 3,50€ and headed for the ruins first. Built first as a Greek colony in the 6th century BC and named Poseidonia, the city was then conquered by the Lucans first and the Romans after who renamed it Paestum. At the entrance on the right side stand the beautiful and smallest of three temples. Traditionally attributed to Cereres, it is now thought to be dedicated to Athena instead. Though the smallest it is still amazing, with frieze and columns in the Doric style. Walking along the path I reached the circular Ekklesiasterion, the meeting place for the popular assembly and then a little further the roman Amphitheater 2/3 of which are still under the modern road. This was the place of the Greek agora first and then of the Roman forum. After the forum, finally the most important sites of Paestum: the two huge and beautiful temples both dedicated to Hera. The southernmost, the so called Basilica, is the oldest and dates from 530 BC and was built in the Doric style. Only a the front part of the Naos, the inner cell, is remaining. The other temple, also dedicated to Hera but originally thought to be dedicated to Neptune, built in 460 BC is the largest and most beautiful of all. Also built in the Doric style, but much different to the older one since this one has much larger columns, all evenly space and in even number: 6 on the short side (the other had 9 on the short side). Most of the impressive Naos is still standing though it was not permitted to go inside (but people still did without following the rules). After thoroughly admiring these impressive temples I walked back along the roman road, the Via Sacra, lined by roman houses and villas, built on top of older greek ones. I then headed inside the museum which contains all the amazing objects and artifacts that were recovered from the archaeological site and surrounding area. In addition to hundreds of beautifully decorated greek vases with scenes from daily life and war; the most amazing features were slabs of stone part of burial tombs richly decorated and frescoed with scenes of hunt, war etc. Nearly all where Lucanian, an Italic people that took over Paestum from the greeks; however there were also a few beautiful greek ones, the best of which was The Tomb of the Diver, which was not at the museum but hosted in Milan (and that I got to see when I went back to Milan), depicting a man diving into water (being it extremely important since it was the only archaic object in its entirety depicting a human figure). Since I was visiting and it was still midday I decided to walk to the town of Agropoli since the next train was only going to pass no earlier than 2pm. The distance was 10km however once I reached the town of Paestum, about 3km later, a bus headed to Agropoli was passing by so I stopped it and hopped on (ticket was 1,80€).
Once I reached the town I hopped off the bus and headed for the castle and old town. Once I reached the medieval gate climbing up a monumental stair, I decided to look for a place that served Pizza Agropolese, a type of pizzed served in a wicker basket. Unfortunately after checking out 5 pizzerias I was told they only served pizzas for dinner so I decided to settle for a small diner called Tavola Calda da Giusy which served some really good and super cheap dishes. I got a pasta with tomato sauce and mozzarella and a second dish with the Gató ( a type of potato and ham lasagne) plus a bottle of water, spent only 9 euros and felt definitely full. An american couple was passing by and I overheard them talking about getting pizzas so I asked them if they were and they answered positively so I told them that they wouldn't find pizzas anywhere for lunch so they, like me, settled in getting a nice meal in this place. After lunch I headed back through the medieval gate and into the old town. I walked around and along interesting medieval streets until I reached the highest point where the castle is located. The castle built first as a byzantine stronghold and then later rebuilt under Aragonese rule, was open and is used as a public park with several cultural events taking place inside it. The view from the walls was nice, with the Piana del Sele to the right and the Amalfi coast far ahead with the island of Capri at its end. After that I decided to head back down and walk to a nearby beach. Once I reached the port I saw the immense cliff on which the city was built, imagining the usefulness of such a natural defense. After a 30-40 minute walk I reached the Baia di Trentova to the southwest where there were a few people sleeping or relaxing. I set my towel and lay down to rest too. After a while I decided to change into my swim suit, that I brought with me, and take a dip into the sea. The water wasn't too cold and though slightly windy outside I was able to dry quite rapidly. Then the sun came out of the few clouds and it became really pleasant to lie there. At around 4 though I decided to start heading back into town to catch the 5:05 train. Once I reached the train station though I discovered that the train did not exist so I had to wait with a few people, typical trenitalia mess up, for the 5:56 train. I then reached Salerno 40 minutes later and took the metro back home.

Detail of the Temple of Hera 

Inside the Temple of Hera

View of the archaeological site

Te two temples of Hera (of Neptune in the background)

View of the Temple of Hera or Neptune

One of the greek tombs

A Lucanian tomb

Medieval gate of Agropoli

Small square in Agropoli

The castle of Agropoli