Metauros Archaeological Museum

Set up in the eighteenth-century Palazzo Baldari in the historic center of Gioia Tauro, it illustrates the history of Métauros, a center founded by the inhabitants of Zancle (today's Messina) for expansionist-commercial reasons and passed under the influence of the colony of Locri in the 6th century BC. of the natural terrace of Piano delle Fosse, site of the ancient settlement, did not permit in-depth investigations; on the other hand, it was possible to excavate the coastal strip in extension which yielded the great necropolis of the 7th - 5th century BC The rich grave goods attest to the close ties of Métauros with the centers of Mylae, Zancle and Rhegion and with sites in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, beyond to document trade with the Mediterranean area. The museum itinerary, which occupies the entire ground floor of the building, mainly offers materials from the area of the necropolis excavated in the last century and which has also returned significant evidence of indigenous presences of the VII BC. Among the artifacts on display are aryballoi, alabaster of island production, Attic pottery with varnish and black figures, transport amphorae of the SOS type.

A space is reserved for funerary finds from the Roman age (2nd-3rd century AD) when the city began to be inhabited again after being abandoned in the Classical and Hellenistic ages. Among the pottery on display, very refined glass vases stand out, decorated with applied motifs, which can be classified as imports from the Mediterranean area, confirming the commercial vocation of Métauros even in Roman times.

The medieval age is testified by ceramic materials from an area located between the remains of the so-called "Norman" square tower and the surrounding walls, in the northernmost part of the Piano delle Fosse. Also documented pottery dating from between the thirteenth century and the Renaissance.