Visit the Paestum Archaeological Park and its most important archaeological finds from ancient Magna Graecia.

The temples of Paestum are the main attraction of the archaeological site and represent the best-preserved architectural structures, used as places of worship, from Magna Graecia times in Italy.

Paestum was most likely one of the largest Greek cities on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia. After being established by Greek settlers under the name Poseidonia (Ancient Greek: Ποσειδωνία) was conquered by the Lucanians and later by the Romans. The Lucanians renamed it Paistos, while the Romans gave the city its present name. The Paestum ruins are known for their three ancient Greek temples, which still stand in an excellent state of preservation. Outside the temples of Paestum, we can still find the remains of the old city in the modern hamlet of the municipality of Capaccio, in the province of Salerno.

Paestum is the site of three magnificent Doric temples, supposed to be dedicated to the eponymous city Poseidonia (known to the Romans as Neptune), Hera, and Ceres. The temples of Neptune and Hera are located next to each other in the southern part of the site, while the smaller, temple of Ceres is at the northern end.

The central part of the site is the Roman Forum, with extensive foundations of various public and private buildings. In the northwest of the forum is a small Roman amphitheater, only the southern half of which is visible.

NOTE: You can walk by the temples, but they are fenced off to prevent access to the interior.

The Temple of Neptune or also called the Temple of Poseidon is the largest temple in Paestum Archaeological Park and dates back to the mid-5th century BC.
With its dimensions of 59.88m x 24.14m and a colonnade of 6x14, it is considered to be the perfect example of Doric temple architecture in Italy and Greece, and the inner area of the temple, namely the cella, is the best-preserved part to this day, in fact it is considered to be one of the best-preserved Doric temples in the world.
The attribution of the temple to Neptune is due to scholars of the 1700s who believed the building was built in honor of the god Poseidon-Neptune who gives the city its name. While recent studies attribute it instead to Apollo or Zeus.

The Temple of Hera is the oldest of the three Doric temples, built approximately between 550 B.C. and 450 B.C. and is located next to the Temple of Neptune. The temple is dedicated to Hera, bride of Zeus and main deity of Poseidonia. The temple has the typical conformation of peripteral Doric temples, i.e., whose conformation is that they are surrounded by a portico with columns. The total columns of the temple are 50 and it also has 9 columns on the main facade, and 18 along the sides.

The temple of Hera is often referred to as the Basilica, based on an erroneous assumption by earlier archaeologists who thought it was a Roman public building, in the sense that the Roman term indicates: a place used as a courtroom and for assemblies held by citizens.

The Temple of Ceres or also known as the Temple of Athena was built about fifty years before the Temple of Neptune and 50 years after the Temple of Hera has special features that distinguish it from the other two temples and make it one of the most interesting in Greek architecture. The high pediment and Doric frieze composed of wide blocks of limestone make this temple unique. In addition, the temple of Ceres unlike the other two temples has the pronaos inside with six columns of Ionic style.