General information: 
Province: Salerno

The promontory on which Agropoli stands has seen the presence of man since Neolithic times.
The Greeks gave the promontory the Greek name Petra and built a temple on it, dedicated to Artemis, the goddess of hunting. It has been established that in Roman times, east of the promontory and to the right of the river Testene, a seaside town called Ercula developed and flourished between the 1st cent. B.C.,and the 5th cent. A.D. Meanwhile, the harbour of neighbouring Poseidonia (by then renamed Paestum by the Romans) became progressively silted up by the process of coastal bradyseism.
Then, in the 6th cent. A.D., the Byzantines needed a secure, well-protected harbour south of Salerno, so they fortified this site, calling it Akropolis, which means "high town".
 

Agropoli remained in the hands of the Byzantines until 882, when the town fell to the Saracens. They turned it into a formidable stronghold, eventually, in 915, they were driven and Agropoli came back under the jurisdiction of the bishops, who had established their see in (old) Capaccio during this period and it was possessed by them until the early decades of the 15th century.

Agropoli and its feudal lands were held by the Sanseverino family until 1552 and after that, Agropoli passed to the Aragon.
Agropoli was a particular target of raids from North Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries. On 1630 , a strong band of men from surrounding Cilento helped the citizens of Agropoli to repel an attack by 700 Turkish pirates.
During the nineteenth century, Agropoli began to expand outside the medieval walls, but the old town has remained intact, together with most of the surrounding defensive walls and the seventh-century entrance gate.

The Angevin-Aragonese castle, which was built on 6th cent. Byzantine foundations, still stands on top of the promontory.

To the west of the modern tourist harbour, there is another small promontory, on which the coastal tower of S.Francesco (16th cent.) stands next to the much altered remains of the convent of the same name.

General information: 
Province: Salerno

Inhabited since the Neolitical period, the Velia territory has been colonized by the Focesi, wich arrived in the 6th c.B.C.
In 546 B.C., they escaped from the Focea’s siege (antique city of Asia Minor) and they refugated in Sardinia where they had founded the colony of Alalia.

Defeated by the Etruschi, the Focesi arrived on the territory by the Alento River, and acquired from the Enotri the right to settle themselves in Velia, reported by Plato as Elea. The colony was circled by long walls beyond eight kilometers and was provided of two towers on the sides of a door.
The excavations have brought to light a big thermal stucture in the 2nd century, an urban city from the Roman Age and a basilica, probably paleo-christian.

Besides, it was also founded a portico from the 1st century B.C.
Because of the nice climate that made it the favourite holiday place of the rich people and the famous men, through them even Cicero, Velia built its fortune essentially on commerce and seafaring activities.
In the 3rd century B.C. and in year 62’, the city has gone threw devasting floods, but the most desastrous was the one of the 5th century that filled the meridional residential area with earth, and provoked the disappearance of the paleo-christian basilica.

With the approach of the Lomgobard army, the Velia’s inhabitants deserted the antique part of the city, and they went back to this part only after the Christian conversion of the invadors.

Since then, many italian-greek monks came to Velia and they didn’t hesitate to take important marble fragments to build their own houses and the San Quiricio Church.
Today, the most important voice of the economy of the place is tourism, active above all at Marina di Ascea.

Nevertheless, what attracts visitors in this locality, it’s not only the beauty of the sea but also the wealth of the archeological patrimony and the high level of the receptive structures.

The other important economic resource is agriculture, which the principal products are olive oil and chestnuts.
 

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