Abbot Conforti Square

Abate Conforti Square, according to some scholars the site of the Forum of the Roman Salernum, was for centuries the center of the city’s political, economic and religious life.

Most of the buildings facing it date back to the Middle Ages: the former Convent of St. Mary Magdalene, now the National Boarding School “Torquato Tasso”, the St. Sophia Convent and the Church of the’Addolorata, the’State Archives.

From Piazza Conforti, taking Via Tasso or Via Trotula De’ Ruggiero, one can begin a beautiful walk in the residential neighborhoods of ancient Salerno, in the area known as “Plaium Montis,” at the foot of Mount Bonadies, where stands the Castle.

Going up from Via De Ruggiero, near the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, one arrives at PCopeta Palace, an 18th-century building with a view of the entire gulf between the two coasts, Amalfi and Cilento.

From here we reach the Palazzo San Massimo. This building was founded by Guaiferio in the 9th century as the home of the Lombard princes, less than a century after the Complex of San Pietro a Corte and the church dedicated to St. Maximus the Confessor was attached to it. Beneath the eighteenth-century renovation, little remains of the original structures: a stone portal leads to a large atrium and a monumental staircase leads to the upper floors, where there are large halls with ceilings and walls decorated with 17th-century frescoes.

Walking along Via Tasso, one also has the opportunity to admire Palazzo Conforti and Palazzo Ruggi D’Aragona, further illustrious examples of the residential development of the area.

Rising up the ridge of the “Plaium Montis” one arrives on one side at Fusandola, where an old city wall descended parallel to the stream of the same name, and on the other side at Via de Renzi, where, through the ancient gate of San Nicola, one went up the Canalone valley, reaching the locality Croce, and then descending into the territory of Cava de’ Tirreni.

Many examples of religious buildings remain in this area. Here for several centuries, there was the large vegetable garden of the many Monasteries in the area. In this area, not surprisingly, there is also the Giardino della Minerva, the botanical garden linked to the Salerno Medical School.