The evidence relating to the Messapic period of Alezio mainly consists of the grave goods found in tombs during occasional excavations in the city and especially during the systematic exploration of the Monte d’Elia necropolis, carried out from 1981 onwards. It was precisely on the occasion of these excavations that the Municipal Administration promoted the establishment of a museum, intended to house the most interesting materials from the ongoing research and, meeting a demand also felt by the local population, to prevent their dispersion in the museums of Taranto and Lecce. The Civic Messapic Museum (significantly the only one dedicated to this civilization) is located inside the eighteenth-century palace built by the noble Gallipoli family of the Tafuri. It was declared a national monument in 1981 and inaugurated in 1982, thus avoiding the dispersion of the precious objects.
Information on Messapic Civic Museum
Via Kennedy,
73011 Alezio (Lecce)
0833282402
Source: MIBACT
