Our amazing B & B as a starting point for your tours in Campania will be a good choice because there is anything that can offer Salerno from Amalfi and Sorrento Coast, having the added benefit of staying in a lively and attractive city, but also quiet and ordered, where you can find everything you need.
First of all, Salerno is located in an ideal position to plan a tour that covers all the most important destinations of its beautiful province and that allows you to visit, in a very easy way, Naples, Pompeii and the Vesuvius volcano: a few steps from the Amalfi Coast (with its jewels Amalfi, Ravello and Positano), Salerno is just half an hour from the major archaeological sites of Pompeii and Paestum (by train, by car it takes about half an hour) and approximately 45 minutes from Naples, Sorrento and the beginning of the Cilento National Park, which includes the beautiful seaside resorts of Acciaroli, Palinuro and Marina di Camerota.
The quickness and security of the connections are ensured by an efficient system of roads, rail and maritime transports,to which will be added soon the regular visitor’s traffic departing from and arriving at the airport of Salerno-Pontecagnano.
The city of Salerno, moreover, thanks to the vibrant city center and the bustling and beautiful promenade, offers uncountable opportunities for dining, entertainment and shopping at any time of the day, with its many cafes, restaurants, taverns, shops, boutiques and artisan shops.
A visit to the city of Salerno will allow you to deepen the historical and artistic aspects related to the territory :
– Cathedral of St. Matthew
– Castle of Arechis
– Diocesan Museum
– Provincial Art Gallery
– Garden of Minerva
– Theatre Verdi
– Medieval Aqueduct of Salerno
– The event of “Luci d’Artista” making Salerno a magic and charming city.
– Didactic Museum of the Salerno Medical School realized in 1993 in Salerno in the ancient church of San Gregorio in Mercanti street.
Thanks to the permanence in our B & B you will be very close to the heart of Salerno and ready to explore all the natural, rural and cultural wonders in the neighborhood, but above all you will be guaranteed to alternate opportunities for recreation and relaxing moments: the location directly in the city center, our comfortable rooms will captivate you and make you our loyal guests!
Let’s have a look to the most important monuments to visit:
Cathedral of Salerno: The cathedral, founded in 1079, is one of the most impressive examples of medieval architecture in southern Italy. There is a large atrium surrounded by a covered walkway supported by 28 columns. On the southern side there is the bell tower of the mid-twelfth century and to the entrance a Byzantine bronze door. Focus on the floor of the choir, the presbytery and transept decorated with multicolored tiles of the twelfth century, the mosaics of the side apses and the tomb of Pope Gregory VII. The crypt, covered with Baroque style marbles contains frescoes of the seventeenth century and it’s home of the patron’s remains.
Arechi Castle: The Castle of the sixth century, whose oldest building phase is attributed to Byzantine craftsmen, is overlooking the city of Salerno at 300 meters above sea level. The Prince Arechi II in the VII century reinforced the defensive system. Recent works helped define the chronology of the different layers of the settlement until the ages Norman, Angevin and Aragonese. The castle has been affected by restoration during which it has recovered a substantial amount of medieval pottery and coins. To the monumental complex was also added the tower called “the Bastille” located to the north of the castle whose function was controlling all the entire Gulf of Salerno.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREA OF ETRUSCAN-SANNITICA FRATTE: Important pre-Roman settlement, with ruins from the sixth century, in which Etruscans, Greeks and natives people lived. The archaeological site was called “acropolis” for both the topographic location of the findings, and because of the structures found leaving a glimpse of the civil and religious center of the settlement. You can admire also the impressive remains of the necropolis sannita of the end of the fourth century with eight graves of local gray tuff block including one with two places also provided with the cushion. In the western pit, clay settling tanks, a furnace, attest an activity of local clay working uninterrupted since the fifth century until the sixth century A.D.
GARDENS OF MINERVA: they grow in the ancient site of ‘hortus sanitatis’ of the Medical School of Salerno, near the creek Fusandola and the ancient walls. Silvatico’s family was the owner of these places since the twelfth century; one of the components, Matthew, between the thirteenth and fourteenth century, distinguished himself as an outstanding physician of the School of Salerno and expert of plants for the production of medicines.
Public park: it’s is the “garden” of the city. It was designed in 1874 at the entrance of the city coming down from Vietri sul Mare. There is the famous Fountain of Don Tulli in Baroque style, firstly based in the central niche of a bust of Asclepius, then replaced in the nineteenth century by a putto. Located in front of the Teatro Verdi, has a lush botanical garden with many rare plants in the Mediterranean area.
THEATRE GIUSEPPE VERDI: On 5 December 1863, the City Council decided to build the theater in Santa Teresa square and entrusted the project to the architects Antonio and Giuseppe D’Amora Menichini that were based, for this work, on the measurements and proportions of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. In 1869 they started the decorations of the building under the direction of Gaetano D’Agostino, a painter and decorator of great value; he worked together with the most prestigious names in the world of art in Naples.
SAN PIETRO A CORTE AND PALATINE CHAPEL: This is one of the oldest monuments in Salerno. It is located in the area known already in Roman times, and was founded in the eighth century AD acting as a private chapel, by Principe Arechis II, who transferred the capital of Longobardia from Benevento to Salerno. Later it was the headquarter of the School of Medicine. The interior is characterized by a single space covered by a wooden ceiling originally undecorated and barrel-vaulted. On the northern side of the building Prince Guaimario II added, in 1920, a bell tower that, apparently disproportionate, owes its height to a subsidence of the foundations under construction.
SAINT BENEDICT CHURCH: The church was founded in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and it was part of the monastery. It was connected to a massive aqueduct, traces of which are visible today in the well known Arce road. The interior is divided into three naves by two rows of columns and pillars connected by round arches. After the suppression of the monastery in 1807, the Church was curiously used as a theatre in the first half of the nineteenth century; in 1857 was elevated to Parish Church with the title of SS. Crucifix in memory of the wooden panel depicting Christ who had bowed his head in front of the repentance of the magician Peter Barliario. The recent restoration of the church shows traces of intervent made in the past in different phases with the aim of expanding the Church.
CHURCH OF SAINT GEORGE: It dates back to the Lombard period and is one of the oldest female monastic settlements in Salerno. The church was completed in 1674, while the monastery was completed in the early decades of the eighteenth century, only to be suppressed by the unification of Italy. The church, a true jewel of Baroque art is embellished with countless frescoes and paintings, including those of emerging young artist Francesco Solimena and his father Angelo.
DIOCESAN MUSEUM OF SAN MATTEO: near to the cathedral in Plebiscito avenue there is the most important collection of art of Salerno. Located in the former archydiocesan seminary, it preserves important examples from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Among all you can admire a fine exhibition of works: they constitute the largest and most comprehensive collection of engraved tablets made in the Christian Middle Ages in the world. It is formed by 67 pieces, 37 of which are illustrated with scenes from the Old and New Testament.
PROVINCIAL MUSEUM: located inside the Pinto Palace. The historical core dates back to 1932 with works relating to the XV-XVIII centuries and was gradually enriched by purchases mainly due to a continuous restoration work. The collections of most interest are those dedicated to the 700, distinguished by the paintings of Francesco Solimena and the section reserved for foreign artists, who wanted to capture in their paintings the charming scenery of the Amalfi Coast.
SALERNO MEDICAL SCHOOL VIRTUAL MUSEUM: The museum, located in Via Mercanti, relives the themes and protagonists of this extraordinary chapter of history that saw Salerno, and its Medical School, in the center of the scientific renaissance of the West. The exhibition uses interactive techniques and stereoscopic reconstruction and has been made with the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Salerno.
LUCI D’ARTISTA: Every year, from November to January, the nights are lit by giant Salerno brilliant works of art created by famous artists of the light. Those masterpieces are installed in the most beautiful and attractive area of the capital. The magical “Night of Lights” of Salerno, enriched by a series of events in music, dance and various performances that complete the program of Christmas events, makes Salerno even more beautiful for the citizens and welcoming to visitors and represent a good opportunity to discover the beauty and artistic monuments of the city, the pleasure of shopping, the quality of local food in a festive atmosphere and in piece of mind.