On 16 August 1972 a holidaying diver, Stefano Mariottini, saw an arm emerging from the sand eight metres down off Riace Marina: two Greek masterpieces of the fifth century BC, original bronzes from an age that reaches us almost only in Roman copies. The Riace Bronzes are today the treasure of the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria and, alone, a reason to travel.
What to see
The two warriors — "young" A and "mature" B — with silver teeth, copper lips, calcite eyes: details discovered by circling them slowly. Marcello Piacentini's museum surrounds them with the rest of Greek Calabria: the Philosopher's Head from Porticello, the Locri pinakes votive tablets, the Marafioti horsemen.
Visiting
The Bronzes are reached in capped groups through a climate pre-filtering room: the few minutes' wait is part of the conservation protocol. Ninety minutes for the museum, warriors as grand finale. Closed Mondays.
Getting there
The museum faces Piazza De Nava at the top of Corso Garibaldi: fifteen minutes on foot from Reggio's central station. The Strait airport is ten minutes by car; from Messina, the hydrofoil crosses in half an hour.
Our editors' tip
After the Bronzes, walk out onto the Falcomatà seafront — "Italy's most beautiful kilometre", as the Reggini love to repeat — and face the Strait with Etna beyond: the two warriors rested in that sea for two thousand four hundred years, and from there the museum makes deeper sense.