Metaponto is essentially one big archaeological site. The unmissable pair is the Parco Archeologico (theatre, temples, agora) and the National Archaeological Museum next door — see them together, museum first to put the ruins in context. A few kilometres north, the Tavole Palatine stand alone in a field: fifteen tall Doric columns of a 6th-century temple of Hera, one of the best-preserved Greek monuments in Italy. The beach at Lido di Metaponto is the modern resort half of town, useful in summer.