Museo Civico di Modica

The Museo Civico F. L. Belgiorno in Modica traces the history of the Hyblaean territory through archaeology, art and civic collections. Its signature work is the small bronze Eracle di Cafeo, discovered in 1967 in the bed of the Irminio River.

Why it matters

Founded by Modican scholar Franco Libero Belgiorno in the 1950s, the museum holds material spanning prehistory to the medieval period. The collections place the Baroque city within a much longer history of settlement in south-eastern Sicily.

What to notice

The Eracle di Cafeo, a bronze statuette about 22 centimetres tall, depicts Heracles with the lion skin over his head and a bow in his left hand. Dated to the third century BC, it was found during municipal works along the Irminio in 1967 and restored by the Central Institute for Restoration in Rome. Other holdings include paleontological remains, prehistoric flint tools, Bronze Age finds from Cava Ispica, Hellenistic vessels and material from the Treppiedi necropolis.

Context and history

Belgiorno assembled the collection's early core, including ceramic material, in the late 1950s. For decades the museum was housed in Palazzo dei Mercedari; in June 2005 it moved to the former courthouse on Corso Umberto I. The building began as a Benedictine monastery and served as the city's tribunal from 1866. Alongside archaeological holdings, the museum includes historical collections, works by Modican sculptor Enzo Assenza and a collection connected with poet Salvatore Quasimodo.