National Archaeological Museum of Egnatia, Archaeological museum in Savelletri, Italy
The facility organizes finds from Egnazia into chronological galleries displaying ceramic vessels, marble statuary, bronze implements and architectural fragments. Exhibition rooms present Messapian funerary stelae, Hellenistic terracottas and Roman mosaics recovered during systematic excavations since the 1960s. Integrated models reconstruct settlement phases and illustrate defensive walls, public buildings and street layouts across different historical periods.
The archaeological site documents continuous occupation from Bronze Age huts through medieval abandonment in the 13th century AD. Greek colonists established trading posts in the 8th century BC before Messapians built a fortified center. Rome annexed the territory in 244 BC and integrated it as a municipium into trade networks until Saracen raids and economic decline led to depopulation.
Collections trace the development of material culture from Messapian necropolises through Hellenistic ceramic workshops to Roman urbanization. Grave goods document religious practices and social hierarchies in a trading society that merged Greek, Illyrian and Italic influences. Votive offerings and domestic objects reveal economic prosperity generated by port and commercial activities spanning more than two millennia.
Operating hours run daily from 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM with a combined 6-euro ticket granting access to both exhibition halls and adjacent archaeological park. Guided tours are available by advance booking and visitors should bring comfortable footwear for outdoor sections. Parking is free and a small refreshment bar operates near the ticket office.
A semi-subterranean crypt within exhibition spaces preserves early Christian frescoes depicting saints and geometric patterns that testify to religious transition during late Roman decline. This rare integration of devotional architecture into museum structure allows direct observation of liturgical spaces in their original location, undisturbed by later construction.
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