What does elea mean?

Elea is the name of a port city which was founded by Greek seafarers in Southern Italy around 540 years before the birth of Christ. It became a flourishing trading city with a famous school for pre-Socratic philosophers, the so-called «Eleatics». Around the 9th century AD, the town was abandoned. We like this story because it points to important facets of globalization: crossing frontiers, the encounter between different cultures, and dealing with change.

Today Elea is called Velia. This locality lies in the heart of the Cilento National Park, some 140 kilometers south of Naples, Italy. The moving story of Elea is impressively and intriguingly told on the website of Cilento National Park.