Egnazia: the museum and the archaeological park

Egnazia is located on the Adriatic Sea, in the municipality of Fasano, a few steps from the territory of Monopoli, and the archaeological park preserves the vestiges of ancient messapian and roman civilizations.
The first settlements date back to the Bronze Age, when a fortified village was identified on the acropolis, however Egnazia started to be organized as a small town around the 4^th century B.C., it expands beyond equipping itself with a double defensive walls, a market square, houses and workshops for ceramic production and necropolis, of which we can still see several tombs.
Since the 1^st century B.C. it becomes a quite important roman municipium thanks to the strategic position overlooking the sea and along the Traiana Road, the roman road which was essential in the past for commerce and connections between Rome and the East.

Very interesting is the port of Egnazia, characterized by two natural coves, which became military and commercial harbour used for trading activities and boarding point for the pilgrims who went to the Holy Land. Very little remains of the two piers erected at the end of the 1^st century B.C. to protect the bay: some pillars partly submerged to a depth of 6 meters, while on the cliff it’s possible to see some traces of mooring structures.
On the rocky shoreline many pit graves and semi-chamber tombs carved directly on the rock can be clearly distinguished, but most of them have been eaten away and destroyed from the sea waves.
A such wonderful scenery, nestling between the beauty of the Apulian countryside and the blue of the Adriatic Sea, allows to appreciate the historical and archaeological richness of Egnazia simply walking along the coast.

In the late Roman Age, around the 4^th century A.D. Egnazia had a new urban evolution due to a religious ferment when the Christianity was made official, so churches and places of worship were starting to be built to practice the Christian religion.

Also worth visiting the western necropolis where various types of tombs have been discovered: pit graves, semi-chamber tombs and chamber tombs, used over a period of a thousand years.
Inside the museum it is possible to experience an excursus of 30 centuries of history that have described the prestige of Egnazia and made the remains of an ancient messapian and roman city unforgettable.