About an hour’s drive South of Naples is another impotant Italian provincial capital – Salerno. In medieval times Salerno was the world capital of medicine, as the Monastery of the Benedictine monks who founded its medical school offered the best instruction the available. One of the most famous medical texts of that time was the “Regimen Sanitas Salerno” written here in Latin and translated into almost every Europen language. Beyond Salerno, after the headlands of Pontecagnano, Battipaglia and Eboli, is Paeustum, one of the most important archeological sites in the country. Here you will see some of the best preserved Greek ruins, architecture and monuments, such as the Temple of Poseidon (Neptune) and the Basilica dating from the 6th Century. Look out for the “buffalo” that you will see grazing on the roadside during the drive!
