Mith and history
Cape Palinuro and its fascinating beauty does not need much introduction.
The charm of this corner of paradise has captivated sailors from all backgrounds for centuries.
The Greeks set many of their Myths there, the Latin poet Virgil eternalized its name, handing over Palinuro to the legend of the founding of Rome, a successful undertaking because Unum pro multis dabitur caput, “one single life shall be offered to save many”. Palinuro, Aeneas’ helmsman, falls into the sea and lands on these coasts where he is killed, in the place that "aeternumque locus Palinuri nomen habebit", “will be called forever Palinuro”.
Palinuro is undoubtedly one of the best known and most renowned places on the Cilento Coast. Every year, many tourists flock to its beautiful beaches. But there is an unknown and no less beautiful Palinuro: that of its more than 2500 years of history.
This urban trekking, which is at the same time one of the most beautiful phototrekking, accompanies travellers through the symbolic places of Palinuro, telling its story.
Place inhabited by indigenous peoples since the sixteenth century BC, as evidenced by the necropolis of Tempa della Guardia, it was an admirable example of sympoliteia in the Greek era, starting from the sixth century BC: Palinouros on the north side of the Cape, Molpé on the south side.
The two cities had created a common polis, powerful enough to coin money. From the archaeological excavations, incuse coins have been found: the very famous Pal — Mol (Palinuro Molpa), testimony of the richness of this strip of Magna Graecia, the borderline between Elea and the powerful Sybaris. One of these is in the British Museum, a sign of their very high value.
Over the centuries the importance of Palinuro continues. Here the King of Spain wanted to build an important tuna — fishery. Furthermore, from the Spanish era, the numerous coastal watchtowers, while from the Napoleonic era is the Fortino di Monte d’Oro, where French troops barricaded themselves during the French decade.
In Palinuro, a place he loved so much, lived the King of Naples, Napoleon Bonaparte's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, who said about Palinuro: “It's a pity it's not an island!”. The place where he lived, Murat’ Palace, is in the centre of the town, hidden among characteristic alleys.
The centre of the country then saw the epilogue of the Cilento riots of 1828, the first libertarian attempt to unite Italy in the form of a republic.
The walk ends in one of the most beautiful and least known places in Palinuro: the Antiquarium — Archaeological Museum, simply one of the most evocative museums in all of southern Italy.
Here it is possible to see a series of significant archaic and Greek artefacts, a sign of the fusion between Oenotrians and Greeks, all found in the territory of Palinuro, a small great treasure chest, which has one of the most beautiful seas in the Mediterranean … but also much, much more!
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