Parco Archeologico di Amendolara

The archaeological landscape of Amendolara preserves the remains of an Oenotrian settlement on Rione Vecchio and an archaic Greek-style city on the San Nicola plateau. The associated necropolises and finds are documented in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale Vincenzo Laviola, part of the Parco Archeologico di Croton e Sibari.

Why it matters

The remains at Amendolara show how a local community engaged with Greek culture without losing its earlier roots. The San Nicola settlement occupied a regular urban layout of about twenty hectares, while the earlier village on Rione Vecchio dates to around the sixteenth century BC. These sites add a distinct chapter to the archaeology of the Sibaritide.

What to notice

The San Nicola plateau has steep natural slopes on three sides and an open outlook toward the sea. Its remains include a pottery kiln, imported vessels from eastern Greece, Corinth and Attica, and loom weights inscribed with Achaean names. Museum collections include weapons, ornaments and ceramics from the Bronze and Iron Ages; grave goods from the seventh- and sixth-century BC necropolises of Paladino and Mangosa; and material from the Agliastroso necropolis.

Context and history

Systematic excavations began in 1967 after the initiative of local doctor Vincenzo Laviola. Archaeological work by the Soprintendenza of Calabria continued from the late 1960s through the 1970s under Juliette de la Genière. During the seventh century BC, much of the population shifted from Rione Vecchio to the San Nicola plateau, where houses of mudbrick on stone foundations lined regular streets. The settlement shared the fate of Sybaris when Croton destroyed that city. The museum, inaugurated in 1996 and named for Laviola, preserves objects from the surrounding archaeological sites.