Necropoli di La Salata

La Salata is a late-antique rock-cut necropolis near Scialmarino on the coast of Vieste. Numerous tombs occupy limestone faces around a hollow shaped by karst springs.

Why it matters

The burial complex is important evidence for early Christian communities in the Gargano. Its funerary architecture remains closely connected with the natural rock, making the relationship between landscape and burial practice particularly apparent.

What to notice

Arcosolia, with arched recesses above the graves, occur alongside wall-cut and ground-level burials. Tombs are arranged at different heights, with rock-cut steps linking parts of the complex. Springs and wet-ground vegetation give the setting an environmental character as well as an archaeological one.

Context and history

The necropolis is generally dated to the third and fourth centuries AD. It belongs to the broader late-antique history of settlement and religious change around Vieste. Its later inclusion in the Merino archaeological landscape connected the cemetery with other ancient remains in the surrounding plain.