9810 Metapontum, Lido Metaponto

On our last trip West of Taranto, we took a day at Lido Metaponto and its nearby archaeological sites, including Metapontum (see wiki link attached, [U][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metapontum]Metapontum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url][/U] . We spent half a day touring the sites, and half a day on the beach, which is clean, white, sandy-bottomed and delicious. Spent the night in the Hotel Kennedy (an apartment-style efficiency for 59 euros per night, less on a weekly basis), and had many great coffees at the local beachfront bar. It looks as though the two large beachfront hotels in Lido Metaponto (Bernalda) may not open this year, but the beachfront bar also acts as a lido and can provide most anything you need, and we found a local restaurant, right off the beach, part rosticceria, part pizzeria, both excellent. We are constantly amazed at how many gorgeous Greek/Roman ruins there are within an hour or two's drive from us in Puglia!

Category
Basilicata

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 16:01

That's exactly where i live at the moment. Metaponto is lovely, just run by silly people, who have no business sense, which was why these places weren't open. If you went to the Kennedy this year, you probably spoke with my father at some stage.

As it has been so badly managed, most of these Greek ruins, can be seen with little fuss, as no-one else tends to be there to see them. Just a short walk from my house is a mini 'Pompeii' yet hardly anyone knows about it.

It is worth seeing, if only to prove to the locals that foreigners do visit this country and would be willing to come here if they knew it existed...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 06:26

I agree, i was amazingly beautiful and completely unpeopled -- there was one other Italian family there on a Sunday morning, perhaps on their way out to Sunday lunch and taking a little walk. If your dad was the older gentleman a the Kennedy who had lived in the UK for many years, we did have a conversation with him over breakfast, he was saying the exact same thing about lack of business sense and mis-understanding of the tourism industry. Where's the mini-Pompeii -- we managed to miss it? We'll be back to Basilicata!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 15:34

The easiest route, once they have finished the work on the s.s.106 and re-open the junctions fully, is to get off at the junction for Metaponto/Matera and head Metaponto bound (at this moment in time it is still closed, but should open up again soon).

Within a kilometre on the right, you will find an area with ruins (not marked up), but for the main area, continue on until you reach a roundabout and turn left there. Continue down this road for about 1 and 1/2 Km's and you will see it on the left.

It's not huge and can be easily seen within 1/2 hour but worth visiting and includes the traditional theatre.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 04/19/2009 - 12:43

We just went to Metapontum this past week and the majority of the ruins were closed, apparently some problems with flooding from all the rain this winter. We were able to find the sections of temple along the superstrada.

As with many Italian seaside areas in the off-season, the town of Metapontum and the lido area were closed up, not very welcoming at this time of year. Even the bar for the Kennedy was closed.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/20/2009 - 07:49

[quote=Bruno;117384]We just went to Metapontum this past week and the majority of the ruins were closed, apparently some problems with flooding from all the rain this winter. We were able to find the sections of temple along the superstrada.

As with many Italian seaside areas in the off-season, the town of Metapontum and the lido area were closed up, not very welcoming at this time of year. Even the bar for the Kennedy was closed.[/quote]

Bruno,

Do you know if they plan on opening the ruins by summer? We plan on visiting in mid-July.

Lisa

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/20/2009 - 09:05

Lisa,
I don't know a time frame to reopen but there would certainly be more going on in that area in July once the beaches open up.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 07:50

"moved to italiauncovered.co.uk"

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 13:48

[quote=Torchiarolan;119152]Hi Lisa, We went last August, on our way back to Puglia from a couple day break in Matera... very [B]very[/B] hot, MOH thought I was punishing her for something when we got there, she said that she would have been more interested if she could visualise the buildings rather than what was actually left.
We had the place to ourselves, no one was around, we could had made off with all the column tops stacked around the locked up buildings it was that deserted. Maybe it wasnt officially open or they had all gone for a siesta.
She cheered up a bit not far away on the road back to Taranto, we found the Temple of Hera, which she appreciated a top more, as there was a lot more of it to see.... got some really lovely photos with the sun rays slicing between the pillars and lintels....cant remember exactly the name of the area, but honestly you cant miss it.
Sorry cant be more specific about the directions[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up Torch! I googled the Temple and it looks like it's still considered part of Metapontum at least according to the Wiki site. We'll be sure to visit it. You've also convinced me with the comment about the heat of the need to stay at an agriturismo with a pool! We have been vascillating back and forth between an agriturismo north of Miglionico near the wildlife lake with no pool and one in Montescaglioso. with pool as we plan on spending 3 days in the area before heading to Trivigno and then Venosa. We would like to visit Matera and Metapontum and other locales nearby and are trying to spend less time in the car this trip so have broken up our Basilicata stay into 3 segments.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 14:08

"moved to italiauncovered.co.uk"

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 05:35

Lisa,

Metapontum is a town, beach and the park that includes the Greek ruins and a museum. The museum is in the actual town and part of the ruins are nearby (not much to see at these and this was the section closed this spring). Just of the autostrada on the way to Taranto is le Tavole Palatine, they are right next to the highway and you get off the exit and take the road that goes underneath the highway (there is a car dealership just down the road as a marker). This is what you see all of the pictures of for Metapontum...a double set of columns...you can walk right up to them with no type of gate.