The Evolution of Paestum’s Perception. Reading the City Beyond the Walls

Historically, the Sele river represented the centroid of the plain that shares its name, functioning as a subtle line of physical and symbolic demarcation “between Greeks and non- Greeks”. The current Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia occupies a restricted portion of the settlement that took shape during the Greek colonial phase and was consolidated in the Roman era. Unlike Pompeii or Herculaneum, however, the decline of Paestum resulted from altered settlement dynamics among the population. Following centuries of abandonment, it was the XVII century grand tourers who ascribed value to the “austere temples upon a sea of ruins”: the myth of Paestum was hence built upon representations of an isolated place, far removed from time and civilisation. Today, that romantic dimension has faded and so has the physical boundary of the walls, which no longer mark a clear separation between the countryside and the urban area. Nevertheless, their vestiges persist, affirming the memory of an urban form defined in relation to the terrain and the irrigation system of the surrounding countryside. Indeed, the characteristic polygonal configuration has been accentuated by the modern road network, which has perfectly adapted to the perimeter of the walls. Only the ‘Cilento road’ (1827-1829) dared to penetrate the walls, obliterating part of the ruins and fatally dividing the archaeological substratum into two distinct portions. These considerations provided the foundation for the design solutions developed during the Workshop Building social value beyond conservation in the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia. The workshop aimed to investigate new forms and methods for the valorisation of the Archaeological Park, basing on the recognition of the meaning and intrinsic value of the surviving urban form.