Sezione Open Air del Museo Delta Antico

The Open Air Section of Comacchio's Museo Delta Antico reconstructs part of the Etruscan settlement of Spina at Stazione Foce. It is a modern archaeological interpretation beside the lagoons, not a surviving group of ancient houses.

Why it matters

Spina was an important Adriatic trading centre with strong connections to the Greek world. The reconstruction gives architectural form to evidence otherwise known through excavation and museum objects.

What to notice

Wood, marsh reed and clay reproduce the principal materials of the ancient buildings. One reconstructed house presents domestic space with reproduced furnishings and pottery. The pair of buildings forms part of an interpretation of a settlement organised around streets and canals. Their wetland-edge setting helps explain the relationship between habitation, navigation and the changing delta landscape.

Context and history

Spina developed around the middle of the sixth century BC and declined during the later third century BC. Its rediscovery began with twentieth-century excavations of the necropolises; traces of the settlement emerged during reclamation of the Valle del Mezzano in the 1960s. The open-air project was developed with the University of Bologna through experimental archaeology and the Interreg Italy–Croatia VALUE programme.