Massa Lubrense

Massa Lubrense was originally named after the mythical sirens who lived on these coasts. According to legend Ulysses was also a visitor to these shores and is said to have founded the famous temple of Athena. The first inhabitants of this area were probably two tribes of Italic origin: the Ausonians and the Oscans. Evidence of the latter bas been found in rock inscriptions discovered a few years ago on the eastern side of Punta Campanella.  When the Greeks formed a colony here, the name of the temple (Athenaion) was used to describe the whole tip of this peninsula which conserved its marked Hellenistic character even during Roman times, when it was called Promontorium Minervae, a name appearing on the Tabula Peutingeriana (IV century) next to the first drawing of the temple.  It was only in the first century that Latin culture came to the fore with the arrival of...