Museo archeologico di Marianopoli

Museum of the Gela Archaeological Park with finds from the sites of Monte Castellazzo and Balate-Valle Oscura, from prehistory to the Hellenistic age.

Opening hoursFree admission

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About the museum

The museum, run by the Parco archeologico di Gela, tells the story of the territory of Marianopoli from prehistory to the Hellenistic age. The display focuses on two sites: Monte Castellazzo and Balate-Valle Oscura.

Monte Castellazzo was inhabited from the Neolithic, around the 5th millennium BC, until the Iron Age. In the 6th century BC an indigenous settlement arose there, later Hellenised, traditionally identified with the ancient city of Mytistraton. At Balate an indigenous centre existed from the 6th century BC, also Hellenised and defended by a city wall; a sacred area has been identified on the acropolis, while the necropolis is at Valle Oscura, on the south-western edge of the mountain.

The finds on display come from excavations carried out between 1977 and 1984. They include pottery fragments from the Neolithic, Eneolithic and Bronze Age; archaic indigenous pottery that takes up Greek forms, such as oinochoai and krateriskoi with geometric or naturalistic decoration; vases with Greek figurative decoration; and a collection of Greek pottery.

Highlights

Finds from the 1977–1984 excavations at Monte Castellazzo
Material from Balate-Valle Oscura
Archaic indigenous pottery with forms derived from Greek models
Vases with Greek figurative decoration
Free admission

Permanent exhibition

Collezione archeologica di Monte Castellazzo e Balate-Valle Oscura – Pottery and finds from the Neolithic to the Hellenistic age, from the 1977–1984 excavations.

Operated by: Parco archeologico di Gela (Regione Siciliana)