Established in December 2011 as an exhibition belonging to the town council, the “Museum of the Bruttians and the Sea” has been created according to a topographic and chronological path. The findings are primarily in relation with the most significant facies of the area of Cetraro, i.e. between the IV and III centuries BC. There are also interesting sections dedicated to the sea and the Losardo Cartographic Collection.

To complete the cultural offer, the museum organises exhibitions and conferences, and provides educational services. The museum is the centre of a tourist itinerary that includes various sites of historical and archaeological interest on the hillside, and is one of the focal points of a wider network of museums and parks along the coastal strip that ranges from Tortora to Amantea.

These itineraries can be divided into at least four major thematic areas: pre-history, the Hellenistic period, the Roman period, the Middle Ages.

The first thematic area includes several caves, like the Grotto of Romito in Papasidero, famous for the engraved image of the bos primigenius, and the Grotto of Monaca in S. Agata d’Esaro, suggestively placed along the side of the mount Montea.

 

A questa potrà affiancarsi la grotta della Monaca di Sant’Agata d’Esaro, dalla suggestiva collocazione lungo il fianco della Montea (metri 1785 s.l.m.).

The second thematic area includes the archaeological park of Laos,

an ancient  Lucanian city whose remains are visible on the plateau of San Bartolo di Marcellina in the territory of Santa Maria del Cedro, and the museum of Blanda in the old town of Tortora, with its beautiful grave goods belonging to the Oenotrian and Lucanian necropoleis of San Brancato.

The third thematic area features the Middle and Late Imperial  Roman settlements of Cirella and Blanda Julia, as well as the Late Antiquity villa located in Principessa, Amantea. This circuit also includes the museum of Serra Aiello, established around the main evidences of the ancient Temesa, with grave goods coming from the Iron Age necropolis of Chiana and the no less important archaic tombs of Campora San Giovanni.

The Middle Ages is finally represented by various castles, including the Abatemarco at Santa Maria del Cedro, the castle of Scalea, the castle of Fiumefreddo Bruzio, and the ruins of Cirella Vetere.

The opportunities arising from the establishment of the Museum Network of the Upper Tyrrhenian Area of Calabria (SMATC), however, are strongly linked to the success of the network, that we hope to set up in one of the most interesting area of Calabria in terms of geographic, cultural and tourist potentialities.