Description of the attraction
Velia is the Italian name for the ancient city of Elea, located on the territory of the modern commune of Asha in the province of Salerno in the Italian region of Campania. The city was founded around 538-535 BC. by the ancient Greeks who arrived on the Apennine Peninsula from Phocaea (modern Turkey), captured by the Persians. Elea was known as the birthplace of the philosophers Parmenides and Zeno of Elea, as well as for her philosophical school of Elea, whose students developed questions about being. Interestingly, the city was not conquered by the Lucans, but became part of the Roman Empire in 273 BC. In the Middle Ages, the site of the ancient Acropolis of Elea, located on the promontory, was renamed Castellammare della Broca.
Velia is located close to the Tyrrhenian Sea coast in a hilly area next to Marina di Casalvelino and Marina di Asha. A nearby road connects Agropoli and the Cilentan Riviera. The population of the city lives mainly on the plain by the sea, as well as in the hilly regions of Enotria, Bosco and Scrifo.
The attraction of Velia is the ruins of the ancient city - fragments of city walls with traces of gates and several towers with a total length of over three miles. These walls belong to three different time periods, while they were built from the same local crystalline limestone. Also preserved are cisterns for collecting rainwater and the ruins of several buildings.
