Ascea

Ascea-Velia was founded in 540 BC by the Focei who, having escaped the Persian capture of their city, had first taken refuge in Corsica and then, driven out by the Etruscans, had landed in Reggio and, with the help of its inhabitants, founded the city of Elea. The new city boasted a strategic position, on an easily defensible rocky promontory and not far from the sea. Elea acquired prestige and became renowned in intellectual history for its philosophical school, called “Eleatica”, whose origins can be connected to those of the city itself. Among its major thinkers, Parmenides and Zeno were distinguished, whose philosophical speculations, aimed at giving impetus to the experimental method, had a strong influence in the history of ancient thought. The decay of this ancient town can be attributed to the invasions of the Saracens (sec. VIII-IX). In the Norman period, a castle and a village, called Castellammare della Bruca, were built on the top of the hill, overlapping and partly destroying the ancient Greek structures: it was completely abandoned in the 600s.The excavations of Velia were initiated by A. Maturi and P. Mingazzini in 1921. Some structures with stone plinths and raised in bricks referred to an archaic district of houses were brought to light from the most ancient phase in the lower city. Further west it is possible to see the Southern Quarter relative to an urban re-planning of the city at the end of the 4th century. B.C.

Ascea-Velia was founded in 540 BC by the Focei who, having escaped the Persian capture of their city, had first taken refuge in Corsica and then, driven out by the Etruscans, had landed in Reggio and, with the help of its inhabitants, founded the city of Elea. The new city boasted a strategic position, on an easily defensible rocky promontory and not far from the sea. Elea acquired prestige and became renowned in intellectual history for its philosophical school, called “Eleatica”, whose origins can be connected to those of the city itself. Among its major thinkers, Parmenides and Zeno were distinguished, whose philosophical speculations, aimed at giving impetus to the experimental method, had a strong influence in the history of ancient thought. The decay of this ancient town can be attributed to the invasions of the Saracens (sec. VIII-IX). In the Norman period, a castle and a village, called Castellammare della Bruca, were built on the top of the hill, overlapping and partly destroying the ancient Greek structures: it was completely abandoned in the 600s.The excavations of Velia were initiated by A. Maturi and P. Mingazzini in 1921. Some structures with stone plinths and raised in bricks referred to an archaic district of houses were brought to light from the most ancient phase in the lower city. Further west it is possible to see the Southern Quarter relative to an urban re-planning of the city at the end of the 4th century. B.C.