Parco archeologico di Egnazia

At Egnazia, an ancient city lies open above the Adriatic: defensive walls, burial grounds, the Roman Via Traiana and early Christian basilicas remain legible in the landscape near Savelletri. The archaeological park and its museum together trace a settlement occupied for nearly three millennia.

Why it matters

Egnazia preserves a rare, readable urban plan, from its Messapic defences to the Roman road and late-antique churches. The settlement developed from a Bronze Age community into a Messapic centre, a Roman municipium and an early Christian bishopric. The acropolis remained inhabited after the lower city was abandoned, and occupation ended there in the thirteenth century.

What to notice

The Messapic walls mark the city's perimeter, while the necropoleis outside them include shaft, semi-chamber and monumental chamber tombs. Through the Roman quarter, the paving of the Via Traiana follows the ancient Adriatic route. Nearby stood a civil basilica with the aula delle Tre Grazie, a sanctuary dedicated to eastern deities, a porticoed square, a cryptoporticus and baths. In the Christian quarter, the episcopal basilica and its baptistery, together with the southern basilica once paved in mosaics, recall Egnazia's role as a bishop's seat. The acropolis, occupied longer than the lower city, completes the sequence.

Context and history

The Ministry of Culture dates settlement here to the sixteenth century BC. During the Iron Age the area was inhabited by Iapygian peoples; by the late sixth century BC Egnazia had become a Messapic centre. Rome took control in the third century BC, and from the first century BC the city was a municipium whose position on the Via Traiana and port connected it to Adriatic and wider Mediterranean commerce. Pliny, Strabo and Horace all mention Egnazia. From the sixth century AD the lower town was gradually abandoned, while the acropolis continued in use until the thirteenth century.