The Greeks pushed by the narrowness of their soil founded colonies along the coasts of Asia Minor and the Mediterranean. The colonies along the coasts of southern Italy such as Sibari, Agrigento Velia and Paestum, designated as 'Magna Graecia'. Towards the middle of the seventh century a. C. the city of Sibari, to extend its political and commercial influence on the Tyrrhenian side of Southern Italy, founded commercial settlements on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Among these, the northernmost was at the mouth of the Sele river and they strengthened it with the construction of a sanctuary in honor of Hera. In the surroundings there were small inhabited centers and with the economic development due to the trade of Sibari, what was in a better position was strengthened and a city was formed that the Greeks called Poseidonia, Paistom in the Lucan period and Paestum in the Roman age.
At the same time, the Phocians from Asia Minor founded Elea, today Velia. The latter will host the Eleatic School of Philosophy of Xenophanes and the medical one, from which the important Salerno Medical School originated. The gradual abandonment by the inhabitants and the overflowing of the Salso river (Capodifiume), which lapped the city, perhaps coupled with a bradyseism, contributed to the deterioration of the city, and the water of the river transformed Paestum into a swamp.
The signs of its slow decline are evident and irreversible during the IV and V centuries, when the inhabited center concentrated around the ancient Athenaion, then the last inhabitants of Paestum, to escape malaria (IX century) and the incursions of the Saracens, fled to the nearby hills, founding Capaccio Vecchio (from 'caput aquae' meaning 'source of the river')
In 1752, King Charles III of Bourbon had the road to the south built (the current state road 18), crossing the same ancient city, and the temples and ruins of Paestum were rediscovered and made visible.

The Archaeological Park of Paestum, registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1998, has been an autonomous museum complex of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism since 2014. The Mission is to preserve, study, communicate and manage a heritage of monuments and collections that is unique in the world. The Archaeological Park of Paestum is supported thanks to its public revenues and funding. For particular projects and important investments it also makes use of European funding, donations and sponsorships. The summer program in Paestum is very varied, some examples: Let yourself be enchanted by the thousand-year-old columns under the stars and by an exceptional program, ranging from classical music to dance, from jazz to Neapolitan music. The Music at the Temples festival, gives you an appointment every Friday, from 30 June to 15 September, at 9:00 pm, near the temple of Neptune.   See the calendar of events