Paestum

Paestum, originally the Greek colony of Poseidonia, was founded around 600 BC on the western coast of Italy about 80 kilometers south of modern Naples by settlers from Sybaris. It is renowned for three exceptionally well preserved Doric temples dedicated to Hera, Athena and Poseidon and built between roughly 550 and 450 BC, the oldest, the so-called Basilica dedicated to Hera, begun around 560 BC; the site passed to Lucanian and then Roman control, was renamed Paestum by the Romans, and its ruins remain among the most visited archaeological sites in Italy, with two further Doric temples uncovered by excavation as recently as 2024.