Cava de' Tirreni is located behind the Amalfi Coast and it is an ancient historical town.
Its first inhabitants were the Tyrrhenes, a nomadic Etruscan tribe, whose presence has been documented from archaeological finds housed in the Benedictine Abbey Museum and the Municipal Museum.
In Roman times it was a famous holiday resort for the nobility of Rome. Remains of temples and Roman villas, probably belonging to the Gens Militia, were found in the ancient villages of Vetranto and San Cesareo. Other remains from Roman times were found in several of the surrounding areas, above all on the northern side bordering the Roman settlement Nuceria Alfaterna.
It was inhabited by the Longobards, evidence of whose civilisation still exists in the series of ancient Towers built for the Game of the Pigeons and the many place-names dating back to three centuries of Longobard domination (9th to 11th centuries).
The Benedectine Abbey of the Holy Trinity is the very symbol of Cava de' Tirreni; it is situated in the narrow valley of the Selano stream, just a few km from Cava de' Tirreni. It was founded in 1011 by St. Alferius, an aristocratic from the court of Salerno. The church and the greater part of the buildings were entirely modernized in 1796. The old Gothic cloisters are preserved. The church contains a fine organ and several ancient sarcophagi. The archives, now national property, include documents and MSS. of great value (e.g. the Codex Legum Longobardorum of 1004, and the La Cava Bible) and fine incunabula.
In the 14th and 15th centuries the Borgo Scacciaventi, a remarkable example of a shopping centre with an arcade-lined street and historical colonnaded buildings, developed.
Do not miss to visit the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, the oldest church of Borgo Scacciaventi, St. Auditore's castle, St. Francis' Church and the Church of Purgatory.