The Gold of Taranto
The long, adventurous story of this fascinating city begins among the “hut” dwellings of prehistoric man. Taranto's memory spans the whole of the history of the Italic civilizations, with its Greek, Roman, Byzantine vestiges up to the present day. The Archaeological Museum of Taranto is normally housed in the Alcantarini convent, which is undergoing modernization at present, and is therefore temporarily situated in the 18th-century Palazzo Pantaleo. It contains one of the most important archaeological and artistic collections of southern Italy. There is a very famous collection of gold jewellery, which includes objects dating from the archaic age to the Byzantine period, including the magnificent diadem from the Tomb of Gold at Canosa.

Museo archeologico nazionale di Taranto  
Via Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, 10 - Taranto

Attis and the Three Graces
In a typical Apulian landscape, among the green olive trees, lie the ancient vestiges of the Roman city of “Egnathia”, still visible in the surrounding walls and gateways of the town. Wandering through the Archaeological Park, the atmosphere is in no way disrupted by the presence of the new building housing the National Museum, built on a raised based from which the visitor can admire the view of the surrounding gardens and whole area of the excavations. The museum contains finds from the bronze age up to the middle ages, including a spectacular marble “head of Attis”, a fine Roman sculpture, and the mosaic known as the “Three Graces”.

Museo Nazionale e Parco Archeologico di Egnatia
Egnatia - Fasano (Brindisi) Via degli Scavi Archeologici

Temple of the Mother of God
Siponto stands on the coast in the bay of Manfredonia, at the foot of the Gargano promontory. In ancient times it was an important commercial port, from where Roman ships left for Greece and Asia Minor, and a large network of roads linked the town to the inland areas to facilitate the distribution of products from the Orient. The archaeological park contains many vestiges of life in the settlement within the walls that surrounded the urban area. The ancient basilica still has its original flooring, a beautiful, multi-coloured mosaic. Siponto met its fate in the 13th century when an expanding Manfredonia, the new settlement set up by order of Manfred, overtook it in importance. The ancient splendour of Siponto is re-evoked by the Temple dedicated to the Mother of God; its rich architecture continues to enchant visitors despite much successive rebuilding. The magnificent doorway, flanked by two lions, beckons the visitor into the magic atmosphere created by the light as it filters through the tiny windows of the small dome.

Parco Archeologico di Siponto
Manfredonia (Foggia) Piazza S. Maria Regina, 11

Sculptures in the Castle
The oldest part of the Manfredonia castle, which stands in the centre of the town, looking towards the sea, was built by Manfred of Hohenstaufen around 1256. Later the Angevins fortified the castle, including a large moat that prevented access except by the drawbridge. The Aragonese enlarged the building further with three towers, two cylindrical and the third quadrangular, all with defence structures against artillery. The castle now houses the Archaeological Museum, containing the precious Dauni stele, decorated slabs of limestone from the Dauni civilization and dating from between the 7th and 6th century and found in the surrounding archaeological area.

Museo Nazionale di Manfredonia
Manfredonia (Foggia) Lungomare N. Sauro - c/o Castello svevo-angioino

The castle of Gioia del Colle stands in the centre of the saddle separating the eastern and western areas of Murge. The whole building represents the architectural and artistic syncretism of three different styles: pre-Norman, Norman and Hohenstaufen , with a clear preponderance of works ordered by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. The National Museum of Gioia del Colle is housed on the ground floor of the castle. It contains mostly funeral objects found in the area of Monte Sannace. Among the most interesting finds are the bell-shaped crater decorated with red figures attributed to the Painter of Amykos, one of the first Italic ceramic decorators, and the remains of household objects, such as clay cooking rings and large jars decorated in relief, with vegetable motives.

Museo Nazionale di Gioia del Colle
Gioia del Colle (Bari) Piazza dei Martiri

The Archaeological Park of Monte Sannace is set atop a hill of almost circular shape. The remains found there, which are preserved in the National Museum of Gioia del Colle Castle, have enabled the experts to reconstruct the history of the place. It is an indigenous settlement dating from the 9th century B.C. which has not survived to the modern times but nevertheless bears witness to the interest that the Greeks first and Romans later had in colonizing the plateau of Monte Sannace. The war against Carthage in the 3rd century B.C. was fateful for the settlement and the whole urban centre was destroyed. The traces of the settlement, which are still perfectly visible in the blocks of local stone, are very haunting.

Parco Archeologico di Monte Sannace
Gioia del Colle (Bari) Provinciale Turi Km 2,882/b