Parco Archeologico

Greek theatre, temples, and grid plan of the ancient city

The archaeological park covers the heart of ancient Metapontum: the agora, the temples of Apollo Lycaeus and Hera, the theatre cut into a low rise, and the orthogonal street grid laid out by the original Greek settlers. The remains are foundation-level rather than upright, but the scale is impressive — this was a Greek city of perhaps 40,000 people at its peak.

The park lies a few kilometres inland from the modern coastal village. Allow a couple of hours; pair with the Museo Archeologico which is next to the entrance.

things to do landmark archaeological site
A story
Metapontum was one of the wealthier colonies of Magna Graecia, and the ruins still show it: an agora flanked by the foundations of four temples, a Greek theatre, and a grid of streets you can walk through almost without thinking about. Pythagoras spent his last years here after the political backlash drove him out of Croton; tradition has him dying in the city in the late 6th century BC. The site is rarely crowded — half the time you'll have it to yourself.