Along the road that flanks the area occupied by the Forum, the heart of the Roman city, an artisan's workshop stands out among all the others. It is linked to a production that is as particular as it is identifying ancient Paestum: perfume.

Characterizing the site of the workshop unequivocally also for posterity is a white marble press, still located in the place where it once carried out its function for a couple of centuries, between the 1st and 3rd AD. That object was used to obtain omphacium from green olives, the best quality olive oil which was one of the fundamental raw materials for the production of perfumed ointments. In particular, for the most widespread and famous among those in use by the Romans, namely the Rhodinum italicum or, according to the original Greek definition, the Rhodinon italikòs, from whose name we can deduce the fundamental essence from which it was composed, namely the rose, rhodonin ancient Greek. 

Paestum was the ideal place for that production, given that large plots of land around the city were dedicated to the cultivation of roses. Thanks to the particularly favorable climatic conditions and the proven fertility of the Paestum plain, they were available for most of the year. This characteristic soon proved to be fundamental for their commercial success and their diffusion, especially in Rome, as an alternative to the roses produced in Egypt and the East, whose importation, although possible regardless of the seasons, was extremely expensive and, by force of circumstances, limited.

In the fourth book of the "Georgics", Virgilpraises the Paestum rose as "bifera", meaning repeat-flowering. The rose gardens, in fact, guaranteed blooms not only in spring, but also in late autumn and into winter. This allowed the demand to be satisfied in continuous growth of cut flowers for Campania and even more for the City, where the wealthy class embellished their residences with scented roses, as well as making extensive use of rose petals for home decorations and welcoming guests at banquets.

Red and fragrant

The most popular roses were the red ones, although pink ones were also widespread. According to the myth, Venus, to whom the rose was sacred, while rushing to the rescue of the young Adonis with whom she had fallen madly in love and who had been mortally wounded by the attack of a wild boar, injured her foot with a thorn. A drop of her blood then fell on a white rose, giving it the strong carmine color that would distinguish it the most from that moment on. And which would have been sung in his love verses by Marziale and, several centuries later, also by Torquato Tasso.

Double and with numerous petals, that of Paestum was a Damask rose. Particularly fragrant, as Martial and Propertiuscelebrated it, the rose was indicated for the many preparations that it had inspired since ancient times. Starting with the "Rhodinum italicum", obtained by accompanying the fragrant petals with oil, resins or rubber as fixatives, salt and other ingredients depending on the recipes used, not excluding wine. However, in order to enhance the red color of the flowers, all of them included the addition of cinnabar or ancusa.

The production of perfumes and roses ceased with the decline and abandonment of the city. Only the verses of the poets kept alive for posterity the memory of the consolidated and celebrated union between the city of temples and the queen of flowers. Until in 1938, the then superintendent, the great archaeologist Amedeo Maiuri, decided to return the roses within the ancient Greek walls that still delimit the ancient city. The chosen area was around the temple of Ceres, where 400 rose plants were planted. They began to fill the air of Paestum with their scent again in spring. 

Even more present today in the extensive archaeological area, thanks to the rose garden planted a few years ago by the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, in collaboration with the Superintendence, on a project to recover a rose similar to the ancient Paestum species signed by the botanist Luciano Mauro.