Paestum preserves three of the best-surviving monumental Greek temples in the Mediterranean within the remains of a later Roman city. Greek settlers from Sybaris founded Poseidonia around 600 BCE on the fertile Sele plain. Lucanian communities took control around 400 BCE, and Rome established a colony in 273 BCE under the name Paestum. Streets, sanctuaries, houses and civic buildings make those transitions visible in one walk.
The archaeological area belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage property covering Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, the archaeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula. This is a cultural landscape designation, not simply an award for three temples. Agriculture, routes and settlement history connect the monuments to a much broader territory.
