Gioiosa Marea Archaeological Area
Davide Mauro - CC4.0
The Archaeological Area of Gioiosa Marea is located near the ancient town of Gioiosa Guardia and refers to a Hellenized indigenous center, located in an exceptional strategic position, identified in the eighties of the last century on a terrace on the eastern slopes of Monte Melluso.
The site, already inhabited during the Final Bronze Age-Iron Age (12th-8th century BC), with oval-shaped huts, is more widely documented in the archaic-classical Greek phase (end of the 7th-5th century BC), when the town was organized with houses with several rooms, located along the slope in an east-west direction, delimited by narrow streets.
The violent destruction of the Greek town at the end of the 5th century. BC, due to an earthquake or due to the expansionist policy of Carthage, the installation of a group of burials dated to the 4th century follows. B.C., which testifies to the continuity of attendance at the site. In the 11th century, after a long period of abandonment, the terrace occupied by the ancient settlement became a fief of the Benedictine convent of Patti and in the 18th century the church of San Francesco was erected, with an adjoining convent, the ruins of which are still visible.< br>A selection of the materials found on the site is exhibited in the Antiquarium Comunale di Gioiosa Marea.
