Bernalda - Metaponto: Tavole Palatine

Evidence of the prosperity of the ancient polis of ‘Metapontum’ can still be found in the archaeological areas. On a hill, it is possible to admire the ‘Tavole Palatine’, name that usually refers to the ruins of the extra urban temple dedicated to Hera. Built in Doric style in 530 B.C., it is the only worship monumental building whose external colonnade has been partly preserved. The original construction used to have 6 columns on the short side and 12 columns on the long side, but there are only 15 left, arranged in two wings, respectively of 10 and 5 columns each, which support two pieces of an architrave. The columns were restored in 1961.

Bernalda - Metaponto: The Archaeological Park

It is a beautiful archaeological area, situated between the mouths of the rivers Bradano and Basento, which overlooks the gulf of Taranto. The site of the ancient ‘Metapontion’ contains what has been saved from the uninterrupted plunder of the past. It shows a town with a regular plan, consisting of long and narrow blocks, with a ‘plateia’ (the main street) and perpendicular secondary streets. The town was connected to the sea through a canal. There are ruins of walls, a theatre built on an artificial bank, the necropolis of ‘Crucinia’, which comprises the ruins of the shrine dedicated to Lycian Apollo and the adjoining Agorà. There are four temples in it: the oldest is dedicated to Athena, the temple of Apollo, the ruins of the temple of Hera in Doric style and the temple dedicated to Aphrodite. There are two ovens in the potters' area and the Roman ‘castrum’, perhaps built to give shelter to a garrison. It is also possible to admire the ruins of an early Christian church with a baptistery.

Policoro: National Museum of Siritide

The National Museum of Siritide of Policoro is located near the ancient Siris-Herakleia. It is devoted to the Greek colonies of Siris (VII-VI century B.C.) and Herakleia (V century B.C. - A.D. I-II century) and to the Italic world of the Agri and Sinni valleys. Through an exhibition based on chronological and topographical criteria, it supplies information about different aspects of the two subsequent Greek colonies, such as civil, economic and religious life and handicraft. The archaeological finds come from both the towns and the respective necropolises, such as the so-called ‘Tomba di Policoro’.

Policoro: The ancient Heraclea

Heraclea was founded over the ruins of Siris by the inhabitants of Taranto in 434/433 B.C. The new town, named after Hercules, inherited political institutions and language from Taranto, becoming an important place. In 374 B.C., Heraclea replaced Thourioi, fallen into the Lucanians' hands, as the capital of the Italiot League. After this event, Heraclea experienced the time of its greatest political splendour. In 280 B.C., Heraclea was involved in the war between Rome and Taranto. The famous battle when Pyrrhus defeated the Romans with his elephants took place in this area, more precisely near the present-day Panevrino. The ‘Tavole’ of Heraclea, at present kept at the Museum of Naples, regarded as a fundamental document to learn about not only Heraclea, but the whole of Magna Graecia, probably date from this time. Towards the end of the Republican Age, Heraclea was upset by social riots and in 72 B.C. it was disturbed by Spartacus passing through. The population left the low part of the town and found shelter in the high part. It declined during the Imperial Age.