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    A week-end in Salerno: what to see


    Pubblicata il: 22 September 2016
    Sei qui: Home > Blog > Art & History > A week-end in Salerno: what to see

     

    The city of Salerno faces the Tirreno Sea and is the starting point (or the ending one) of the beautiful Amalfi Coast. This city incarnate every aspect of Amalfi Coast, starting from the territory. In fact, it goes from the sea coast to the Stella Mountain, 1000 meters high. The city grows along the coast to the hills, making the painting even more unique and exclusive.

    Very rich also from an historical point of view, Salerno was a very important city not only for Italy, but for Europe,too. The first villages in the area born in the VI century b.C. and were Etrurian. But from this place the Romans started the conquest of Magna Grecia (the southern part of Italy, at the time, was Greek). Salerno was very active also during the second Punic war, by the same side of Scipio.

    salerno

    The history

    After the langobardic conquest, rose the Principality of Salerno. In this period was built the famous Castle. During the Norman period, Salerno was richer than Rome. It was so prestigious and culturally active that there was the most important medical research centre of Europe, the Schola Medica Salernitana. Today it is considered like the modern university’s ancestor.

    After an obscure time full of different dominations and natural disaster during the Renaissance, Salerno was like a small town. But the XIX century, during the Borbonic Kingdom, in Salerno born the first factories. During the Second World War, a lot of important episodes took place here: first of all, the landing at Salerno by the Alley, before they went to Rome. After the landing, Salerno became the city for everyone was escaping from war and persecutions, including the royal family. It became temporally Italy’s capital city.

    But here is what you can not missing if you’re planning to visit Salerno in a two-days time.

    The Cathedral

    San Matteo Cathedral, built between 1080 and 1085 is the most important religious building in Salerno. It is famous because inside there are the Saint’s relics. Until some years ago, a strange juice kept coming out from the relics. The juice was transparent and odourless and people believed it had some miraculous properties. It was called “San Matteo’s Manna”.

    Speaking about the church, the steeple is very particular. It has an arabic shape and it is made by four cubes one on the other and ends with a cupola. The entire structure is full of symbols and symbolic numbers: three floors, like the number of the universe’s levels, according to the Holy Scriptures; the small tower is circle-shaped and represent the otherworldly element; the outer part is decorated with 12 small pillars (like the number of the Apostles) that carry a stripe decorated with six-pointed stars (the Jewish star). Above all there is the dome, that represents God.

     

    duomo-salerno

    The City Centre

    Walking through the streets of the city centre will be like dive in another time. The handcraft tradition is still present and active, and crashes with the lifestyle of the centre, made by bars, pubs, restaurants and young people hanging out. Anyway, the two faces of Salerno live together in peace: in the daytime, artisan’s shops, in the nighttime, cocktail bars.

    centro-storico-salerno

    The Seafront

    One of the most beautiful places in Salerno is the Seafront. It is considered one of the best in Italy. It is a huge public park full of trees and it is a pedestrian area. It is 1 km and a half long and 30 meters large.

    The park runs along the Gulf and the City Centre and ends at the touristic harbour, where you can see the brand new Maritime Station, designed by the famous architect Zaha Hadid, who passed away not long ago. The Station is completely covered by local ceramics.

    stazione-marittima-salerno

    The new Maritime Station

    The Arechi Castle

    The Arechi Castle rules on Salerno from its elevated position. It was built hundreds of years ago by the Langobardian king Arechi II, who moved also the capital city of the kingdom from Benevento to Salerno. It was built in a strategic position to control the city but also to control the maritime trades. The promontory where the castle stands is not natural: it was built modifying the ancient walls and making them higher, taking advantage also from the already existing roman and bizantine walls.

    You can visit the castle (click here for the official website) that hosts a museum where you can see all the things that were in the castle plus a collection of ceramics from the Middle Age.

    castello-arechi-salerno

    The Verdi Theatre

    Based on size and proportion of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples, the Verdi Theatre was inaugurated in 1872, on April 15, with the representation go the “Rigoletto”, famous grand opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi.

    Today, under the artistic direction of Daniel Oren, the season is full of unmissable shows, from the grand opera to the classical tragedy. This is the link where you can find all the dates.

    teatro-verdi-salerno

    The Minerva Garden

    Salerno never stops to surprise you. For example, you are walking peacefully in the heart of the city centre and suddenly you find yourself in the beautiful Garden of Minerva, without even notice it. This is a vegetable garden made of terraces that run from the Villa Comunale to the Arechi Castle.

    Matteo Silvatico, famous representative of the Schola Medica Salernitana, in 1300 built what he called “The garden of the simples”: a garden where to grow all the plants needed for the production of drugs. Without even knowing it, he created the firs Botanical Garden in the West. The position of the Garden, the exposure to the north winds and a complex system of fountains and pools created a perfect microclimate for the plants that grew there. And that still grow.

    giaridno-minerva-salerno


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