Paestum is the classical Roman name of a major Graeco-Roman city in the Campania region of Italy. It is located in the north of Cilento, near the coast about 85 km SE of Naples in the province of Salerno, and belongs to the commune of Capaccio, officially also named Capaccio-Paestum.

Paestum is situated close to the Tyrrhenian coast on the road linking Agropoli to Battipaglia. Its population is mainly located in the quarters surrounding the ancient Graeco-Roman ruins, as Santa Venere (to the south, near the hamlet of Licinella), Andreoli (north) and Torre di Paestum (west, by the sea). The town also has a railway station on the Naples-Salerno-Reggio Calabria line.

Founded around the end of the 7th century BC by colonists from the Greek city of Sybaris, and originally known as Poseidonia. Outside of archaeological evidence very little is known about Paestum during its first centuries. Archaeological evidence indicates that the city was expanding with the building of roads, temples and other features of a growing city. Coinage, architecture and molded votive figurines all attest to close relations maintained with Metaponto in the sixth and fifth centuries. It is not until the end of the fifth century BC that the city is mentioned, when according to Strabo the city was conquered by the Lucani. From the archaeological evidence it appears that the two cultures, Greek and Oscan, were able to thrive alongside one another. What is known is it later became the Roman city of Paestum in 273 BC after the Graeco-Italian Poseidonians sided with the loser, Pyrrhus, in war against Rome during the first quarter of the third century BC.

Marco Mengoni (born December 25, 1988) is an Italian singer. He rose to fame in 2009, after winning the third season of Italian talent show The X Factor. The following year he ranked third in the 60th Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Credimi ancora". As of January 2011, he has sold a total of 220,000 copies in Italy with his first two EPs and his live album Re matto live. In 2010 he became the first Italian artist to win the Best European Act award at the MTV Europe Music Awards. His first full-length studio album, Solo 2.0, was released in September 2011.

Marco Mengoni was born in Ronciglione (Viterbo, Italy). Before starting his singing career, he graduated in industrial design and he started studying Languages in Rome, occasionally working as a barman.

He started singing at the age of 16 and two years later he funded his first band.

In 2009 he auditioned for the third series of the Italian talent-show X Factor. His category (16-24 year olds) was mentored by Morgan, and Mengoni was chosen to be among Morgan's top 4 contestants and perform on the live shows.

Vinicio Capossela (born 14 December 1965) is an Italian singer-songwriter. His style is strongly influenced by US singer and songwriter Tom Waits (Capossela repeatedly recorded his songs with the help of Waits' guitarist, Marc Ribot), though it also draws from the traditions of Italian folk music (especially those of Irpinia, the part of Campania where his family moved from in the 1950s). Capossela's lyrics are highly original and are often inspired by literary sources such as John Fante, Geoffrey Chaucer, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others.

Capossela was born in Hannover (Germany) from Italian parents, moved very early to Emilia Romagna. He has lived in Milan since 1987.