• City

  Manduria

• Province

  Taranto

• Adress

  Piazza Scegnu, 74024 Manduria TA

• Date of construction

  V-III century B.C.

Description

Manduria, an ancient Messapian city, was surrounded by moats and mighty megalithic walls between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC; the remains divided into a triple circle, are still visible together with those of a large necropolis, with pit tombs often of large dimensions, covered by stone slabs, whose finds can be admired at the exhibition "Beyond the Walls" which documents the excavation of over 1200 tombs unearthed by Nevio Degrassi from 1955 to 1960.

In vain Manduria was besieged by Taranto, with the help of the king of Sparta Archidamus who, in 338 BC. lost his life there under the walls. Not without having imposed a strenuous resistance, it was taken by Hannibal in 212 BC and then conquered by the consul Quinto Fabio Massimo in 209 BC. who made  3,000 prisoners. The archaeological park of the Messapian Walls preserves a long perimeter of the triple circle of walls that surrounded the city. There is the largest Messapian necropolis ever discovered, the Fonte Pliniano and the medieval church of San Pietro Mandurino.

Gallery