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Sorrento
| The origins of
Sorrento are not known clearly. According to the legend, it was
founded by Liparus the son of Ausone, which was son of Odysseus
and Circe, and the first exponent of the Italic descent of
Ausoni. So Sorrento should have been initially an Italic city,
as alsotold by the ancient historian Strabo. But the structure
of the old centre of Sorrento and some archaeological remains
make us think it was a Greek city or at least it was heavily
influenced by the Greeks. This is confirmed also by the presence
on Punta Campanella (the extreme point of the peninsula) by a
temple dedicated to Athena.
The old centre of Sorrento shows
the usual Greek and Roman plan, with parallel streets around the
main axes (decumanus and cardo maximus) of Via San Cesareo and
Via Tasso, running straightly to the cardinal points. It
partially keeps the original plan, nowadays occupied mainly by
souvenir shops and tourist services, and partially has been
cleared by the construction of the main road of Corso Italia,
done at the end of the 19th century and which crosses Sorrento
from point to point.
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