The Messapian and Roman city by the sea
On the coast between Monopoli and Fasano, the Archaeological Park of Egnazia preserves the ruins of one of the most important ancient cities of Apulia. Gnathia, as the Greeks called it, was founded by the Messapians and had already been inhabited since the Bronze Age; it later became a prosperous Roman town on the Via Traiana, with a port that traded with Greece and the East. The Roman poet Horace, who passed through on his journey to Brindisi in 37 BC, mocked its inhabitants for claiming that incense melted without fire in their temple. The city was abandoned in the early Middle Ages.
The park includes the remains of the acropolis on a promontory over the sea, the walls, the stretch of the Via Traiana paved with large stone slabs, still marked by the ruts of carts, the forum, a civil basilica, the cryptoporticus, a large underground covered gallery, the baths and early Christian basilicas. Outside the walls lies the Messapian necropolis, with chamber tombs carved into the rock, some of them painted. The National Archaeological Museum displays the finds, including the famous Gnathia ware, a style of fourth century BC vases painted in white, yellow and red on a black background, named after the city, and a mosaic of the Three Graces.
Tip: the park is right by the sea, so combine the visit with a swim at the nearby beaches; visit in the morning, there is little shade.
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