The ruins and pinakes of one of the richest Greek colonies
Along the Ionian coast of Calabria, south of the modern town of Locri, lie the ruins of Locri Epizefiri, one of the most important and richest cities of Magna Graecia, founded at the beginning of the seventh century BC by Greek colonists from Locris, in central Greece. The city was famous throughout the Greek world for its laws: here, around 660 BC, the legislator Zaleucus wrote what is considered the first written code of laws in the Western world, with precise penalties for crimes, which put an end to the arbitrariness of judges. Locri was also a centre of culture, of philosophy and of the cult of Persephone, the queen of the underworld.
The archaeological park, which covers a vast area among olive groves and fields, preserves the remains of the city walls, several kilometres long, the theatre, carved into the hillside, the remains of the large Ionic temple of Marasà, houses and workshops, and the sanctuary of Persephone at Mannella. From this sanctuary come the famous pinakes, hundreds of small painted terracotta tablets, of the fifth century BC, offered by the women of Locri to the goddess, with scenes of the myth of the abduction of Persephone by Hades, of weddings and of female life, of extraordinary grace and refinement, one of the most precious testimonies of Greek art in Italy. Many of them are displayed in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Locri, at the park, and others at the Museum of Magna Graecia in Reggio Calabria. A short distance away, the town of Gerace was founded by the inhabitants of Locri in the Middle Ages.
Tip: start from the museum to understand the site; combine Locri with the medieval town of Gerace, on the hill above.
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