Just 5 miles outside the city of Salerno, on its southern boundary, is a town of roughly 30,000 residents that is of little interest to tourists except as a superb jumping-off point to visit the glorious sites of the Amalfi Coast and of the magnificent Greek ruins of Paestum. The town is Pontecagnano-Faiano.

Yet Pontecagnano has made a major contribution to our understanding of the ancient history of the Italian peninsula and who populated it. In short, to answering the question: who were the ancient Italians?