Pythagoras chose Metapontum to die in, and the Metapontines turned his house into a temple: that is how much this city of Magna Graecia between the mouths of the Bradano and the Basento was worth, founded by Achaean colonists around 700 BC at the invitation of Sybaris, which did not want Taranto on that coast. Grain made it rich, and the ear of barley ended up on its coins. Today the archaeological park lies two kilometres from the sea, in the hamlet of Bernalda that took its name from the ancient city, amid a plain of vegetable fields and orchards that was already its treasure back then.
What to see
The urban park preserves the sacred area and the agora of a city that covered 144 hectares within its walls. Of the temple of Hera, the largest, the foundations and Doric column drums from the mid-sixth century remain; next to it the temple of Apollo Lykeios, the shrine of Athena on a base of limestone blocks, and the Ionic temple of Aphrodite, of about 470, one of only five Ionic temples in all of Greek Italy. The altars can still be seen in front of the entrances. Beyond the wall of the sacred area, the theatre was built over the ekklesiasterion, a circular earthwork where citizens were already gathering in the seventh century: it is among the oldest assembly places of the Greek world.
Three kilometres away, on the road to Taranto, the Tavole Palatine are the extra-urban sanctuary of Hera that marked the city's boundary: fifteen Doric columns still standing, with Basilicata all around and the wind from the sea, the image of Metapontum everyone knows. In the national archaeological museum, on the main road, are the grave goods from the necropolises, the temple antefixes and the coins with the ear of barley.
Visiting
The urban park, the Tavole Palatine and the museum are three places some distance apart, all close to the SS 106 Jonica coast road: you need a car, or the train to Metaponto station and then a taxi. In summer visit early in the morning or at sunset, because the plain offers no shade. The Metaponto lido, with its wide beach and pines, is a few minutes away.
Our editors' tip
Do the museum first, because the remains on the plain are easier to read after you have seen the reconstructions; then the urban area and finally the Tavole Palatine, which at sunset are something else. Hannibal, in 207 BC, carried off all the inhabitants to save them from Rome: the city never recovered, and today's silence begins there.