The temple of Hera here is apparently the oldest and best preserved Doric temple in the world:
The Romans built Paestum on the ruins of Poseidonia...
... but they eventually abandoned the town because it was impossible to defend and unhealthy: malaria. No malaria now -- we had a very healthy picnic lunch on the Roman ruins: prosciutto, mozzarella di bufala, caciocavallo, capicola, a bottle of wine...
(Poseidonia was founded by the Sybarites, you know...)
Golden ratio?
Well, sort of , if you find the right line...
On to the archaeological museum. It has interesting wall paintings from the nearby necropoli. These were discovered during WWII when the Americans landed on the beaches of the Gulf of Salerno and needed to build an airstrip. An American lieutenant on the site happened to be an archaeologist and he identified the tombs and managed to save them from destruction.
What is this? A pagan Annunciation? Our knowledge of Greek mythology proved lacking.
It got dark early and we went back to Sorrento. The Christmas season is already in full swing:
We stopped for half an hour at the free Christmas concert at the town hall, attended mostly by the locals...
and caught a couple of favorite Rossini arias and extremely passionate soprano renditions of O Sole Mio and, of course, Torna a Surriento...
After the concert, Fabrizio wanted pizza (to be in Naples and not to have pizza?!) His theory is that pizza is too simple for restaurants and so they don't make it well. Fair enough. He thought he found a rustic enough place (three large wooden tables with benches, no tablecloths), and everyone was expecting a good pizza/beer/wine supper...
... but it turned out to be a fregatura.
I didn't drink much and managed to deliver us and the car safely along the killer alley back to our Casale Antonietta.
No comments:
Post a Comment