Ancient Messene is one of the less known and most underrated large archaeological sites, even by the Greeks. In my opinion, it would be a big mistake to be in the area and not visiting it. Let’s not forget that it is from here that left the Greeks who lived and gave their name to Messina in Sicily!
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The archaeological site of Messene (Messìni in greek) is enormous. The remains are scattered over an area of kilometers, and for this reason I thought it would be easier to break this post into two parts.
I begin from the Arcadian Gate which is located on the road from Archea Messini (new name of Mavrommàti) to Meligalà. It is nothing short of impressive. You just take a turn and you find yourself in front of these gigantic stones, at first it is hard to believe that the road pass in the middle of that wall. The gate is part of a fortification wall approximately 9.5 km long which, for the most part, can be followed walking without great effort.
I do not know if it just me, but when archeology merges into the landscape, urban or natural, and continues to be used for the purpose for which it had been used since ancient times, it has a special charm. Stones cease to be just stones placed in a cage for tourists and you appreciate more the talent and the work of the ‘ancients’. As in this case, where the question arises: HTF did they build with stones of this size with the means they had back then?
Arcadian Gate:
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750 meters further south, towards the town of Archea Messene, we find the museum of the archaeological site. Tiny, few artifacts, but positioned and lit perfectly. Alone would not probably be worth a visit, but combined with the site it deserves at least a quarter of an hour of our time and then it makes a nice chill inside with the air conditioning 😉
The entrance to the museum alone costs 2 €, with € 5 you can instead take the combined ticket museum + site (the site alone costs € 4).
Museum:
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Continuing a couple of hundreds meters toward the village, the area where parking is allowed on the side of the road begins, and there is where we stopped overnight. Quiet, because there is no traffic in the evening, a bit noisy because of the dogs barking all the time … but I do not think this happens every night.
The reward for us was, however, to have breakfast in the morning with an ‘aerial’ view on the archaeological site! (photo below)
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