The Provincial Museum of Salerno occupies the former Benedictine convent of San Benedetto in the heart of the old town and holds the most important archaeological collection in the province. The displays cover more than three thousand years of human activity in the Salerno area, from prehistoric finds through Etruscan, Greek, Lucanian, and Roman periods to the early medieval era. Particularly strong are the Greco-Lucanian painted pottery, the Roman bronzes, and the early medieval material from the Lombard and Norman periods that shaped Salerno's character as a city.
Highlights include a series of beautifully decorated Lucanian kraters found in the necropolis sites around Paestum and the Cilento, and a room dedicated to the finds from the Roman baths discovered beneath the modern city centre. The building itself has considerable interest: the cloister is peaceful and well-preserved, and some of the convent rooms retain their original vaulted ceilings. The museum is genuinely informative for anyone trying to understand why the Campania region is so layered — so many different cultures have left their physical traces in this small piece of Italy.