Visit the Brindisi Archaeological Provincial Museum

Also located at Brindisi's Piazza del Duomo, the Brindisi Archaeological Provincial Museum "Francesco Ribezzo" exhibits artifacts and finds from prehistory to the Roman Age. Founded in 1884, the museum has been at its present location since 2009 and shows exhibits from epigraphy, underwater archaeology and sculpture as well as other disciplines over several floors. Exhibits are well-documented and labelled (in English).

There are some 3,000 bronze sculptures and fragments in Hellenistic Greek style alone, as well as terracotta figurines from the 7th century, ancient Roman statues and heads and many archaeological finds discovered below the surface of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.

The name from which the museum derives its title, Francesco Ribezzo, was a researcher in the field of Messapian civilization and the museum is honouring his important work and that of his colleagues. Taking a tour of the museum begins at the outer portico and takes visitors through the discovery of the different civilizations who used to occupy the Puglia region and followed one another through the ages.

Some of the finds were discovered on an ancient shipwreck in the waters of Punta del Serrone. The museum also houses a collection of ceramics that are Greek in origin and local pottery finds from between the 7th and 3rd century BC.

Located at Piazza del Duomo 6, the museum opens from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm from Tuesdays to Saturdays and also from 3.30 pm to 6.30 pm on Tuesdays. Admission costs 5.00 euros for adults, 3.00 euros with concessions.