Castro and the Athenaion Artifacts on Display at the Colosseum's International Exhibition "Troy and Rome

The exhibition brings together around three hundred artifacts from major Italian and Turkish museums, tracing the long journey that connects the city of Troy to the birth of Rome through the voyage of Aeneas and the emergence of a shared Mediterranean identity.

Among the protagonists of the exhibition is Castro, represented by 31 artifacts from the excavations of the Athenaion, the Sanctuary of Athena overlooking the promontory above the Strait of Otranto.

The presence of the Castro materials holds special significance within the exhibition. Archaeological evidence from the sanctuary documents a tradition connected with the Trojans and Aeneas that was already present on the coasts of Salento at least three centuries before Virgil immortalized it in Book III of the Aeneid.

Among the highlights are fragments of the monumental inhabited-scroll frieze, an extraordinary example of Tarentine baroque sculpture from the 4th century BC; the refined bronze statuette of Athena Iliaca; the famous Messapian trozzella bearing an inscription that mentions the goddess's name; and the precious engraved and figured rock crystals from the sanctuary treasury.

Participation in the exhibition represents an important recognition of the research carried out at Castro over recent decades and confirms the central role of the site in reconstructing the cultural connections that linked the Trojan world to the origins of Rome across the ancient Mediterranean.

Today, the artifacts from the Athenaion of Castro stand alongside some of the most significant materials from Troy and the great museums of the Mediterranean, bringing a fundamental chapter of ancient Salento's history into the heart of the Colosseum.