Paestum (Poseidonia)

Around the second century B.C. in southern Italy many Greek colonies were founded. These colonies, located in ample and fertile, little-populated territories, soon became very prosperous. One of these was Poseidonia. The rich city was surrounded by a vast and mighty rectangular fort at the center of which were constructed three enormous Doric temples:
Athena Temple (later called "Cerere"), Hera (later called "Basilica") and Poseidon (also called "Neptune"). If the dimensions of the Doric columns appear amazing, even more so is the attention to detail: small but sophisticated tricks alter the perception of prospective of the human eye.
In 400 B.C. the city was conquered by local people; in 273 B.C. it became a Roman colony with the name "Paestum".
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the entries were sanded over and all of the coastal plains became marshland: the last inhabitants left for the mountains and city; abandoned, it was lost from memory...only in the 18th century was the city newly discovered by artists on the Grand Tour of Italy.
And it is really thanks to the oblivion of the centuries that today we can see the three Greek temples still silhouetted in the surrounding countryside.
The temples and forum were decorated by numerous sculptures, many of which have survived and are still visible in the Museum adjacent the archaeological area. The Museum is also home to the very valuable findings from the nearby necropolis.
Paestum was inserted into the UNESCO World Heritage in 1988.