Cumae

Cumae was the first ancient Greek colony on mainland Italy, founded around 725 BC by Euboean settlers from Chalcis. It became a major power in Campania, spreading Greek culture and the Euboean alphabet variant that eventually became the Latin alphabet. The site is famed as home of the Cumaean Sibyl, Apollo's oracle, whose purported 130-metre underground corridor was identified by archaeologist Amedeo Maiuri in 1932. The acropolis preserves temples of Apollo and Zeus, while the Crypta Romana tunnel connected the town to its harbour. A Zeus temple was later converted into a 5th-century Christian basilica.