Past and present intertwine in ancient Siponto
The Siponto Archaeological Park derives its significance from the fact that it bears witness to the importance attained by ancient Siponto, a Roman colony dating from 194 B.C. and one of the main ports in the area, before also becoming the seat of one of the region’s largest dioceses.
Notices(3)
- EXTRAORDINARY OPENING 19 AND 20 JULY 2025
On the occasion of the "Manfredonia Classical Piano Festival" events, the Siponto Archaeological Park will be open to the public until 11:30 pm (last admission at 10:45 pm).
- SPECIAL OPENING 22 AUGUST 2025
Please note that on August 22, 2025, the Siponto Archaeological Park will remain open to the public until 11:30 PM (last ticket entry at 10:45 PM).
- free admission
The first Sunday of each month access to all institutes and places of culture is free, including, in the absence of a separate exhibition itinerary or of a separate ticket, the spaces in which exhibitions or temporary exhibitions are held. Admission will also be free on the following days: 25th April; 2nd June; 4th November.
By purchasing online you will have
Services(6)
- Audioguide
- Bookshop
- Disabled access
- Guided Tours
- Info Point
- Pets allowed
Reductions(4)
For REDUCED and FREE tickets, proof of the right to use these tickets will have to be shown. Where the visitor fails to produce such documentation at the ticket office, a FULL-PRICE ticket will have to be purchased.
Free
13types- •European Union tourist guides in the exercise of their professional activity, presenting a valid licence issued by the competent authority
- •Tour interpreters from the European Union working alongside the guide, upon presentation of a valid licence issued by the competent authority
- •To the staff of the Ministry of Culture
- •Members of I.C.O.M. (International Council of Museums)
- •Visitors under the age of eighteen. Under-twelves must be accompanied by an adult
- •To public and private school groups of the European Union alongside their teachers, subjected to booking and in the quota established by the head of the institution or cultural site.
- •Lecturers and students on degree courses, specialist degree courses or post-graduate specialisation and PhD courses in the following faculties: architecture, conservation of cultural heritage, education sciences or literature and philosophy with an archaeological or historical-artistic focus. The same benefits are due to teachers and students of corresponding universities or courses, present in the European Union States.
- •Teachers and students enrolled in Fine Arts Academies or corresponding institutes of the European Union, by showing their enrolment certificate for the current academic year
- •Teaching staff -permanent school or with a fixed-term contract- of the Italian school, upon presentation of a suitable certificate issued by the educational institutions. The certificate is annual and valid for the academic year in progress.
- •Disabled persons and one family member or companion who can show their membership to health and care services.
- •To the operators of voluntary associations who carry out, on the basis of existing agreements with the Ministry, activities to promote knowledge of cultural heritage.
- •Italian and foreign scholars for study or research purposes certified by Italian or foreign school or university institutions, academies, research and culture institutes as well as by the Ministry, for particular and justified needs, the Directors can allow individual subjects who request it free admission for specific periods.
- •Free entry to state cultural sites is permitted to teachers and students of AFAM (Higher Education in Art and Music) schools, upon presentation of the appropriate forms.
Reduced
2types- •EU citizens aged between 18 and 25 (the age limit is considered exceeded from the day following the completion of the 25th year of age).
- •To citizens of countries outside the European Union, on condition of reciprocity.
Cumulative Full-price
1Type- •Allows FULL PRICE entrance to Manfredonia Archaeological National Museum and Castle and to Siponto Archaeological Park.
Cumulative Reduced
1Type- •Allows REDUCED entrance to Manfredonia Archaeological National Museum and Castle and to Siponto Archaeological Park.
Description
The first foundation of the colony
During the Second Punic War, which ended in 202 B.C. with Hannibal's defeat at Zama by Scipio Africanus, some cities in the Daunian region teamed up with the Carthaginians, including Arpi, a flourishing town not far from present-day Foggia. In order to punish those cities that had allied themselves with Hannibal, the Romans decided to intervene in Daunia in 194 B.C. by founding the colony of Siponto, guaranteeig a maritime garrison and a military outpost.
Roman Siponto and its streets
The archaeological investigations carried out in Siponto have also provided valuable information on the road system: the construction of the city walls in opus quadratum a little over 2 metres wide, dates back to the period of the second colonisation of 186 BC. The Roman city had a regular urban layout with streets at right angles delimiting rectangular blocks (90 m x 40 m) arranged in an east-west direction, on which the medieval settlement was later superimposed.
Medieval Siponto
Churches such as the Medieval Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, built between the 11th and 12th centuries, are remarkably representative of Apulian Romanesque architecture. This is distinguished by its unusual cube shape surmounted in the centre by a small dome and a crypt with an entrance from the outside. Between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century, it underwent numerous makeovers. For the construction and architectural decoration, materials including columns and capitals from the more ancient Siponto were re-used. The portal with archivolt supported by two columns resting on the back of a lion is worthy of note.
“Where art reconstructs time”
Since 2016, the Archaeological Park of Siponto has been home to the project Where Art Reconstructs Time, an innovative wire mesh installation by the young Lombard artist Edoardo Tresoldi that recalls in form the last phase of the ancient early Christian basilica.
Consisting of 4,500 metres of electro-welded mesh coated in zinc, the metal basilica is 14 metres high and weighs a total of approximately seven metric tonnes. The bold decision to set up a dialogue between archaeology and contemporary art is part of an innovative vision of the landscape, interpreted in its temporal complexity between evidence of the past and present-day reality.
Forecast
- Sun, 27 Jul17°/25.7°
- Mon, 28 Jul17.5°/28.6°
- Tue, 29 Jul17.4°/21.7°
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