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HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS
The Archaeological Museum of Ugento was inaugurated in October 1968 under the name of Civic Museum of Archaeology and Palaeontology, welcoming materials found after the Second World War, when the gradual process of urban expansion of the city had led to the occasional discovery of numerous ancient materials, mostly from funerary contexts.
Ground Floor
The tombs of the 6th-5th centuries. B.C.
The main necropolis of the archaic and classical era, referable to the Messapian settlement located on the Ugento hill
The tombs of the 4th-3rd century BC
During the 4th century BC, the construction of the city walls very clearly defined the limits of the city and in this modified urban structure the presence of areas used as necropolis is clear even within the walls, in the areas free of the inhabited area.
The bronze Zeus
The Zeus of Ugento is the famous bronze statue discovered by chance in 1961, during construction works, in a private home in via Fabio Pittore, just north of the current historic centre.
The Crypt of the Crucifix
In room 3 of the Museum there is an installation that allows for an immersive virtual visit to the Crypt of the Crucifix
The Site
The “Walled Chapels”
The so-called "Walled Chapels" consist of three chapels with barrel vaults, which had an altar on the back wall, and in a smaller room of uncertain destination, all frescoed, which were located along the left side wall of the original Church of Santa Maria della Pietà
The former Convent of the Observant Minor Friars of Santa Maria della Pietà
The convent of S. Maria della Pietà of the Observant Minor Friars, within which the New Archaeological Museum is located, represents one of the main historical buildings present in the heart of the city of Ugento, adapted over time to different uses .
First Floor
The Hellenistic necropolis of S. Antonio
The necropolis in the S. Antonio area was excavated in 1986-1987 and consists of about 30 tombs mostly dating from the middle of the4th to the 3rd centuries BC, with the sole exception of the tomb from the archaic period; the necropolis extends just inside the city walls. The grave goods from some of these tombs are on display in the Museum.
The tombs of the 2nd-1st century. B.C.
Between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, the topographical organisation of the town gradually changed and if the tombs of the 3rd and 2nd century BC still occupied areas between the different settlement cores, those of the 2nd-1st century BC were mainly located on periphery of the settlement, often in funerary areas already in use in the previous phase
L’Antiquarium
Along the corridors of the first floor of the Museum, there are various displays related to the first exhibition containing ceramic, clay, metal, and stone materials, mostly decontextualised.
Materials from Torre San Giovanni
Three different exhibitions of materials are dedicated to Torre San Giovanni, which has been the port of Ugento since archaic times, from which it is located about 5 km to the south-west.
The materials of the medieval age
Among the materials exhibited in the Museum there are some medieval ceramics, mostly fragmentary, that came from the workshops that operated in Ugento, in the Borgo area along the via Salentina, on the eastern slopes of the old town.
The numismatic section
The numismatic section offers a rich panorama of monetary discoveries in Ugento dating back to the 5th century BC and the Roman imperial period, with some examples even later (from the Byzantine period and the 17th-18th century).
The prehistoric and protohistoric section
The prehistoric and protohistoric section of the Museum includes a selection of clay and stone materials from Ugento dating back to the Neolithic and Eneolithic period, to which is also added a display case containing ceramic, flint, and bone objects from S. Maria di Leuca.
Archaeological Introduction
Ugento in Messapian, Roman and medieval times
Although sporadic finds allow us to hypothesise at least the presence of the site since the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods, there is some evidence of a first settlement on the top of the Ugento hill, corresponding to its southern part, which is now the historical centre, from the Late Bronze Age (12th-10th century BC)
The necropolises of Ugento between the 6th and 1st centuries. B.C.
The oldest tombs tracking back to the Messapian settlement of Ugento, and whose grave goods are exhibited in the Museum, date back to the 6th century BC and consist of sarcophagus or coffin burials made of calcarenite slabs, which can also reach considerable dimensions with a so-called semi-chamber structure.
The Messapian city wall
The city walls of Ugento date back to the period of maximum expansion of the Messapian centre, around the middle of the 4th century BC. Their construction took place in a historical moment of great instability and conflict between the Messapian and Tarentini, even if at first the walls mainly responded to the desire of the urban aristocracy to define the urban perimeter and mark the distinction with the surrounding countryside
The Castle
The Castle of Ugento, one of the most beautiful buildings in Salento, stands on the highest point of the city.