Filo Braccio

Before the hilltop village of Capo Graziano, Filicudi’s first known Bronze Age settlement occupied coastal ground above the port plain. At Filo Braccio, excavations beginning in 1959 revealed a community dated by radiocarbon evidence to about 2200–1700 BC. A decorated cup preserves a striking image of boats and the sea.

Why it matters

Filo Braccio is among the earliest settlements documented on Filicudi. Twenty-one radiocarbon determinations place its occupation between about 2200 and 1700 BC. Excavations revealed farmsteads interspersed with cultivated areas and spaces for storage and animals. Plant and animal remains include barley, lentils, vine, sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, fish and molluscs, evidence of a varied island economy.

What to notice

A ceramic cup from Hut F bears an unusually complex narrative design for Italian protohistory. Incised waves and boats with rowers surround a human figure with raised arms. The image’s precise meaning remains open to interpretation; the cup is displayed in the pavilion of the prehistory of the smaller islands at the Lipari museum. The excavated structures include oval and sub-rectangular buildings made of stone and sea pebbles, with clay floors laid over pebbles and potsherds.

Context and history

The 1959 campaign exposed Hut C and adjoining spaces A and B, as well as Huts D and E; investigations resumed in 2009 and 2013. Around 1700 BC, inhabitants moved from the coastal settlement to the higher ground of the Montagnola at Capo Graziano, a shift associated with defence from seaborne raids. The two settlements preserve different phases of Filicudi’s Bronze Age history: a coastal community followed by a hilltop village. Finds from Filo Braccio are held in Lipari’s museum.