The Archaeological Park is a UNESCO heritage site.
The ancient city of Elea (Hyele) was founded by Greek settlers from Focea as a support base   in the Tyrrhenian Sea, due to the intense commercial exchanges that these entertained with the Italic populations and the most distant inhabitants of the Aegean coasts.
In the period of the Magna Graecia colonies, Elea assumed the characteristics of an autonomous and rapidly expanding city, until it reached the degree of civilization that would have given birth to the philosophers Parmenides and Zenone and to the famous Eleatic philosophical school.
A prestigious medical school has been created whose traditions and knowledge were the basis of the Salernitan Medical School. In Roman times, changed its name to Velia, took part in the Punic Wars: given the merits of the naval fleet, the Romans recognized the privileges and autonomy of the city, such as coinage.

Cicero, Horace and other illustrious personalities found in Velia a mild and welcoming climate, the ideal destination for their holidays. The decline of Velia came with the progressive silting of the ports and subsequent floodwaters, or the end of trade and economic wealth that these had meant.