Salerno lies on the Thyrrenean sea, on a bay having the same name at the foot of the Campanian Apennines.

The city was built by the Romans near an Etruscan – Italic settlement probably named Irna because of the Irno river, of which a necropolis of the VI-V century B.C., was found in the nearby village of Fratte.

In 194 B.C. Salerno became a Roman colony, named Salirnum, referring to the salines of the coast and the river Irno.

The city was conquered by the Barbarians of Odoacre in 476, than by the Ostrogoths and by the Byzantines.

Occupied by the Longobards in 646, Salerno was joined to the Duchy of Benevento, the most important of their holdings in Italy. In 839 Salerno was the seat of a Princedom and a powerful administrative centre.

In 1077 it was conquered by the Norman Roger Guiscard, becoming the capital of the Kingdom of South Italy and an active cultural centre. Salerno boasts the oldest Medical School in Europe.

Devastated by the Emperor Henry the IV in 1194, even though Salerno was immediately rebuilt, it declined under the Suevians and the Anjous and also the increasing power of nearby Naples, to which Salerno was politically dependent.

In 1944 Salerno gave hospitality to the Royal Government of the Savoia during the occupation of the Allied Force after the landing of the allied troupes on the coast of the city in 1943 when it was strongly damaged during military operations.

The Middle – Ages city was built along the slopes, on which summit the Byzantine castle was placed later named after the Longobard Duke Arechi overlooking all of Salerno.

The first Roman settlement is not far from the sea and keeps the original Greek – Roman regular city – plan it’s were the Saint Matthew Cathedral is located. It was built by Roger the Norman in 1080 in Romanic style and as well as the bell tower, has an Arabian influence. The church is preceded by a Romanic atrium and in its interior, strongly rebuilt in the 1700’s and damaged in the bombing in 1943, two precious ambos of the XII and the XIII century are kept. The museum of the Cathedral is very noteworthy where are an ivory altar – piece of the XII century and a miniature work of the XIII century exhibited.

The local archaeological museum of the province of Salerno shows artefacts from the prehistory to the Roman period.

Interesting is the Middle –Ages aqueduct, built by the Longobards in the VIII century, a museum dedicated to a ceramic collection, typical handicraft of this area and the ancient building of the Salerno Medical School.

Salerno is the main trade market of its province, the fifth trading port in Italy, which is increasing its commercial activity, which represents its basic economy.

The industrial sector is characterized by food -, textile-, ceramic-, and tanning- industries, which export their products all over the world.

The hinterland of Salerno, mainly hilly and mountainous, is a large farming – area based on cereals, citrus, olives, vineyards cultivations, cattle – breeding, fishing and tourism in the archaeological area of Paestum, Velia and of the Amalfi coast.