ASCEA

Ascea is a small village located in the hearth of Cilento National Park, at about 86 km (53 miles) from Salerno. Located at the end of the Valley of Velia and with its excellent 6 km (approx. 4 miles) of sandy beach and its attractive cliff on the southern end, Ascea has become a famous seaside resort. Moreover, from Ascea it is easily possible to visit the main interesting places of Cilento National Park (Paestum, Padula, Marina di Camerota). Also from Ascea it is possible to take daily trips both to the Amalfi and the Sorrento Coast.
Velia is an archaeological site placed in the Southern part of the Cilento National Park. 
Velia is the name that the Romans gave to the ancient village of Elea, founded in 540 B.C. by the Greeks. 
The village had been built on a promontory commanding the Tyrrhenian Sea. In Elea originated the Eleatic Philosophy School, founded by the famous philosopher  Parmenide and carried on by the philosophers Senofane, Zenone, Leucippo. 
For several centuries Velia-Elea has been the center of culture in the fields of philosophy and medicine. In the 88 B.C. the village became a Roman village and thereafter declined because its two ports where covered by the sand brought by the sea. The surrounding area was swallowed up by the marshes and the last inhabitants moved into more interior lands, founding the village that still today is called Novi Velia. 
Thereafter the ancient Velia disappeared from history, and only in the beginning of 1900 the archaeological excavations were started. In the sixties the excavations brought to light the remains of the village with the Door of South Marina, the Door of North Marina and the splendid Pink Door, that put in communication the Northern and the Southern quarters of the village.  The Pink Door is a monumental example of round arch. 
Thousands of findings have been discovered and some of those, among which some statues of the Doctors of Velia and the marble head of Parmenide, are exhibited in the Palatina Chapel, standing on the highest part of the acropolis.