Temples of Paestum
If Paris, Texas is a pure, real confrontation (devoid of additives and sweeteners) of an individual facing the landscape, the descent from Rome to Paestum (Campania region) is a majestic labyrinth of contrasts that, those who experience it in the first person, run a serious risk of becoming Toto-style geniuses or incorrigible gangsters who operate in the underworld of Scampia. It is already known that the mind, in the face of confusion, always pulls radicalisms. Only psychiatrists could add the gray scale with some chemical help.
To leave Rome for Paestum, it is necessary to take the GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare), a ring similar to Saturn's where, yes, people from another planet circulate. It could be like the M30 in Madrid, but in a Roman version: without meaning, without order, where madness reigns, oppression , the internal rage for that imperative need to maintain aesthetics above all things. 70 kilometers of arabesques, asterisks and, of course, sadistic traffic. Rome is as beautiful as it is unfinished , and the hand of man can never finish the work. It's easy to get in, but almost impossible to get out; perhaps because she herself does not want to. That yes, with tenacity, one finds the crack towards the south, where one begins to breathe the aroma of Kimbo coffee (authentic Neapolitan), where conversing with people begins to be something grandiose and incomprehensible (things of the dialect). And, of course, the feeling of being cheated is part of the landscape. They say that Neapolitans are not Italian. Italy does not accept them, and vice versa. The country alludes to the exaggeration of his life, turned into a perpetual picaresque novel. They, selfish, friendly and self-conscious, because they are the envy of the nation because they display the beauty manual in all its corners: gastronomy, art, culture. Theater, his thing is pure theater.
Rome, the eternal city
The trip takes place with this constant mental confusion, encouraged by a change in hormones that only produce chills, sweat, joy, sadness, anxiety and fear. Arrived at the capital of the Campania , and without entering it, signs begin to appear leading from Secondigliano to Pompeii, via Herculaneum, Amalfi Coast, Neapolitan Gulf or Le Vele (the mafia stronghold that discovered the world Roberto Saviano). Everything becomes more real when you buy the newspaper (Cronache di Napoli), where headlines about organized crime and buffalo mozzarella, art and death, are mixed. The Camorra always had an exquisite taste for everything , even to choose the settling of accounts and reorder their shady business with prostitution, burning of toxic waste and garbage management. All this takes place in Tierra del Fuego, an inferno between Naples and Caserta, not far from the Royal Palace, baroque, commissioned by King Charles VII to provide the Bourbon dynasty with a Versailles-style space, an icon for the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Kill me, but don't lie to me!
Continually overcome with feelings of ecstasy and torment, the journey draws to a close. Before, however, we put aside cities like Positano or Sorrento to opt for the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway, the paradigm of corruption in the belpaese. 500 kilometers of unfinished road , with more than thirty years of work and an urgent need for it to never end because that is how many families will continue to live thanks to a weak state.
It is worth taking it to experience first-hand the injustices of an extraordinary area that culminates in Paestum, located between the sea and the mountains of the Cilento , which housed our hotel ( ** La Mortella ** ) . Your name; in Spanish it means myrtle; it is due to the abundant amount prevailing in the area, used to perfume the house or make cow and goat cheeses, milked right there, shortly before shaping the culinary work of art. The author of the canvas is usually a woman of at least 80 years of age, a close relative of the owner. Not a word is understood from her mouth (a mixture of Neapolitan and Salernitano), but when she takes you to the garden to give you courgettes, the truth is that language is unnecessary.
The beautiful Positano
Nor is the word the last day very necessary, or the first (depending on how you look at it), space to see the temples of Paestum, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. It is the ancient Greek colony of Poseidonia, founded in the 7th century BC, and is on a par with the most important in Asia Minor or Magna Graecia. Before becoming a Roman city in 273 B.C. It passed into the hands of the Lucanians (year 400 BC), a wandering people from southern Italy with mythological tastes and great fighting skills.
If with Greece the main temples were built (Hera, Apollo and Athena) and philosophy was strengthened with Zeno, with the end of the Empire it welcomed conflicts and occupations until it finally became a cursed swamp, territory of buffaloes and other species, which spread diseases like malaria. Its slow decline kept it in anonymity and obscurity for centuries... Until the future Carlos III of Spain ordered the construction of a road to the south in 1792. It was when the remains of him saw the light of day again. Above all, the tomb of the swimmer-jumper, a naturalistic painting interpreted as the passage from life to death, took on special relevance.
Sculptures of Paestum
The walled city is located a short distance from the sea and is a crossroads of cultures represented by pagan temples, amphitheatres, forums and gyms. In addition to the fall of Rome, its crisis was aggravated by the invasion of Saracen pirates and the development of trade in the East. Now it is simply the metaphor of a sublime area that, however, lacks identity. From there comes the best buffalo mozzarella in the world that is exported to all corners , although the news says that there are not enough animals to do it. From there, angels and demons depart capable of creating heaven to end up destroying it. And then start over. I don't remember the way back... Probably because of a maxim of therapists: The human mind omits things so that everything fits.
P.S: “If we want everything to continue as it is, everything needs to change” ( the leopard )
*** You may also be interested in...**
- Rome in summer: cool plans to survive it
- The great voices of Rome: a musical list by and for the city
- The best ice cream parlors in Rome
- Trastevereando in Rome
- To Rome in summer: with two scoops - From coffee to ice cream: we kick around Rome with bites - Rome with children: much more than ice cream and pizza - The best ice cream in the world
- The best street food Rome (for Romans)
- I, Rome
- Graffiti cities (beyond Banksy)
- Roma Nuova: the modern eternal city
- 100 things about Rome you should know - The best places to eat in Rome
- Places in Trastevere where you won't find a single tourist
- Rome Guide