A new air is blowing in Miletus. A ferment of ideas is felt strongly, combined with enthusiasm of spirit and an urgency for concrete reorganization. The opportunity to have proof of this has arisen thanks to the growing interest shown in it with respect to some of the initiatives included in the program for the coming years but also with respect to other novelties, as well as from the success of events already held and now established. Good things in this corner of Calabria happen mainly by virtue of the continuous “election” of Mileto’s past as the fulcrum of its ancient and future history.
In a double interview, the first with the director of the Mileto Antica Archaeological Park, Paul Mighetto, and the other with the director of the Mileto State Museum, Maria Maddalena Sica, both recently appointed, we can see how Calabrian museums and archaeological parks are reorganizing themselves precisely in light of this interesting innovative impulse. Let us try to understand what is going on, tracing not only the stimuli that the genius loci bestows in abundance here, the numerous ancient finds, traces of a past that never stops talking, but also trying to interrogate that sense of identity that in these parts has perhaps never been lacking either from the citizenry or from members of the municipal administration.
If the past of Mileto, a remote town in southern Italy, has long remained buried, unknown beyond regional borders, it is also true that sometimes it is thanks to some precious opportunities and important strategic choices that the historical legacy of a place can resurrect, anticipate and dictate the vision of the future. Attempting in this way even in part to lift the fortunes of a complex region that in emigration and the phenomenon of depopulation (especially of inland areas) has seen its history, villages, and places all shattered.
And so it is that the power of those finds, if enhanced in an accurate and intelligent way, proves capable even of rekindling dormant interest, bringing an ancient place like this back to light, suddenly catapulting it not only to the center of national attention but also pushing it closer to the hearts of the region’s inhabitants.
Intelligence and attention to detail, then. Through these aspects, even stories long forgotten, such as the one we are about to tell, re-emerge with energy, revealing all their surprising beauty, like a hidden treasure that is slowly revealed, piece by piece. And whether the clue to this memory, its telltale is the tale of a day that evokes a historical moment or an archaeological detail, or, again, the commitment (as will be evident in the interviews included below) of the new directors, perhaps, does not matter too much.
Let us begin with the medieval festival. It is August 30, the day before the feast of the patron saint, Saint Fortunatus. On this date took place the evocative and well-established historical reenactment promoted by the municipal administration, a reenactment that recounts the important page of Norman history that Mileto experienced during the medieval age. The festival retraced some events, each year ritually proposed, such as the marriage between Roger I and Judith of Evreux and the gift of the keys by the ambassadors of Noto; with the unprecedented inclusion, this year, of the act of granting land to San Bruno for the building of the Charterhouse. Hailing from all over the region and beyond, the medieval festival had a large public following and developed over the course of an entire day involving different areas of Mileto, the ancient area of the city, that is, the archaeological zone around the old Abbey, and the new city, with the streets lined with lights and festoons and the evening opening of the National Museum in the second part of the day. Long-perpetuated rituals echo the evocative medieval atmosphere, with the traditional costume parade, horse parades. A glue that has held the citizens together with their illustrious past for about 25 years. Indeed, Mileto was the city that Roger I chose to establish the capital of his Norman county in southern Italy.
Then there are two other cases, which concern pure archaeology; the one that speaks of some new finds discovered and promptly included in the new layout of the National Museum, and the other of the Archaeological Park where a mysterious engraving has brought to light some vital aspects: a scratch made in the 19th century “wounded” a stone by digging it in, leaving a mark with a revealing meaning, however.
Of Miletus, of this almost magical place, abandoned and resurrected several times, we can let the papers and documents speak by observing them therefore from many points; starting, as mentioned, from a historical re-enactment on the events of the Normans but we can also consider that to make it “rediscovered,” really “reborn” requires not only big projects, even small details and a lot of care.
It is no coincidence, in fact, that in this article we talk precisely about a carving in the hard stone, from which ultimately, a few years ago, the seductive history of ancient Miletus resurfaced, a “widespread” history that can be grasped in the majestic spaces of the Park and those of its Museum. Re-emerging in truth some time ago within the Park this curious nick, the discovery of which dates back to the excavations of 1999-2000, reappeared in a scarcely visible spot, a marginal corner bordering an area to be investigated (and which will be investigated) of the ancient Cathedral. It was certainly an extraordinary find at this geographic height, and even if it has remained muted for too long, it has nonetheless cast doubt on certain truths thought unquestionable about the Italian routes of foreign travelers in the mid-nineteenth century. Indeed, the engraving points to two names, Aubin-Louis Millin and Franz Ludwig Catel, two scholars, the former a French archaeologist, the latter a German painter, who between 1811 and 1813 graffitied their passage among the stones of Miletus. Just as other artists and other scholars did in Rome or Pompeii!
And this is not the only exceptional point. Traversed by the foreigners of the Grand Tour, long studied by Paolo Orsi, loved and cared for by the citizens and the eighteenth-century arcadia, the Accademia Milesia, ancient Mileto has an extremely relevant weight and not exclusively for its relevance to Calabrian or Southern Italian history but also for that of the whole of Europe. Indeed, an unbroken thread connects this southern land to northern France.
Let us delve into its history. The capital of the Norman earldom, as we said, a favorite city strategically chosen by Roger I, Mileto has such a long parable that it “breaks” the timeline from antiquity to well beyond the medieval age, to the end of the eighteenth century and the century after, when hundreds of baronets from beyond the Alps poured into these moors to make their “journey to Italy.” Largely still unknown because it is fundamentally underground - the 1783 earthquake shattered it (those same fragments being divided between Park and Museum) - in recent times, as we have seen with a few sporadic examples, much is being done to reconnect the threads of its grandiose past with a future that is waiting to “smile” again. First and foremost, to protect and revitalize it, starting with a challenging excavation campaign, further initiatives are also planned, one of which concerns the important accession to a project that will take place in Normandy in 2027, but above all, much is expected from the commitment of the museum director and the park director.
But let us proceed in order. If we go hunting for its illustrious past what do we see once we get to the oldest part of the city? What history is under our heels if we go to visit it? Vestiges and ruins, collapses, a few columns standing, and their bases, some on the ground, the monumental shoe of the Badia, lots of embankments. However, one can also glimpse remnants of eighteenth-century aristocratic buildings and other much older ruins. All of these are fragments, shreds of history always ready to be rekindled, and not only through the tale of the one who gave this place greater luster, Roger, I, who shaped it, giving it its final imprint. Mileto can and must also rise again through a precise enhancement of the repertoire of the period prior to the Norman years, when it was a Byzantine settlement, and the Roman and later ages are not to be forgotten, when, during the fortunate fourteenth-century phase to reign was the noble Sanseverino family (who commissioned some splendid marble works now on display at the Museum). The history of Mileto, summarizing much, is indeed long - seat of the Norman county first of all, put to the sword in the late 15th century by the Aragonese, aggregated to the Greek College of Rome in 1581, then subjected to Spanish rule in the 17th century - in this way, it is obvious that trying to safeguard the events that have passed through it, turn the gaze upside down to understand its fortunes, find points of strength with the communities, and finally tell the story of it all really constitutes the great challenge of Paul Mighetto and Maddalena Sica.
ADFS. Before we discuss the projects that are to be put in place to “reactivate” the Medieval Archaeological Park of Mileto, can you tell us something about your appointment as Director?
PM. The Medieval Archaeological Park of Ancient Mileto is a place of Culture of the Ministry and, although it is composed of state and private land, it falls under the protection responsibilities of the Superintendency of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria and the Province of Vibo Valentia. For this reason and to enhance the historical and cultural identity of Mileto represented by its extraordinary history and monumental and environmental remains, Superintendent Maria Mallemace, since last June, wanted to give a strong sign of attention to the site and its Community by appointing a Director in charge. A sign that nicely highlights the Ministry of Culture’s growing interest in our region’s sites.
Where should one start? How can ancient Miletus be better protected?
Certainly from the formation of a growing awareness of the value of Miletus, its territory and their history as the prime mover of active protection. Since this awareness can only arise from knowledge of that same history, then everything necessary must be put in place to investigate, interpret and disseminate it. Here in Mileto, fortunately, beginning with the research of Giuseppe Occhiato, the Curia, the Accademia Milesia and the Superintendency itself, a broad, varied knowledge base has been formed, set on research marked by solid scientificity, disseminated through conferences and publications of great value that have rediscovered Mileto’s role as the capital of the Norman Melitan province-that is, of Calabria, Apulia and Basilicata-wanted by Roger I of Altavilla before moving it to Messina and then to Palermo with the formation of the Kingdom of Sicily.
What are the reasons why Roger I may have chosen this place as the capital of the Norman county?
One only has to walk through the park’s sites, the two hills where the remains of Trinity Abbey and the Cathedral stand, joined by the saddle where part of the town once stood, to be struck by a real fascination. One turns one’s gaze to the surrounding soft hills and can clearly see the fortresses of Vibo, Arena, and Nicotera, all the way to the Strait of Messina. A place with very rich springs and already chosen by the Byzantines and Arabs for its strategic location and close to the Roman road Annia Popilia that started from Capua to reach Reggio Calabria. Already in Roman times there is some settlement further downstream, where not surprisingly now stands the modern city that replaces the ancient one destroyed by earthquakes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Let’s talk about excavations. What part of the ancient city will be targeted in the upcoming excavation campaigns?
The archaeological excavation is one of the tools that will be put in place to expand that knowledge I mentioned earlier and extend it to the periods before the Norman era and up to more recent times; it represents one of the many activities of the new management program that is being developed for the period 2025-2030 that will involve Universities, Research Centers and Institutions with the will to configure the Park itself as a place of research not only archaeological.
What is one of the main goals for enhancing Miletus? What is its vision?
It is a very broad and ambitious vision, I recognize, and it is directed at bringing Miletus back to the center of the international attention it has had in the past and that it deserves to recover today. This regeneration rebuilds and amplifies the feeling of identity of the Community that inhabits this territory through multiple actions: that of knowledge and awareness already mentioned but also that which passes through the recovery of a healthy agricultural activity as a tool for the management and care of the natural component of the heritage and as a vehicle for environmental well-being and enhancement of biodiversity, that, then, of a responsible and aware slow tourism capable of constituting a value for the same protection of the site and for ka its enhancement.
Many other novelties have emerged from new studies conducted in recent times in Miletus. Unpublished finds and fragments have been placed within the halls of the National Museum. A new layout has greatly enhanced their history and importance. To mark the occasion, we asked the director of the National Museum to tell us about them.
ADFS. Your appointment is also recent. Would you like to tell us about it?
MS. I am an archaeologist and I come from the world of freelance practice, practiced for a little over 30 years, largely in Calabria which has allowed me to develop a deep knowledge of the area where I had the opportunity to design and curate several museum layouts such as the section of the Italics at the National Archaeological Museum in Reggio Calabria and, in full, the layout of the Museum of the Polis and the Museum of the Territory in Locri. Today I find myself directing what one would call a “minor” museum, in the sense that it is not yet affected by the great flows of cultural tourism. But here is the great challenge that I have decided to accept with the full awareness of the remarkable cultural heritage housed both at the museum and in the territory that potentially places Mileto on the list of sites of great European cultural interest. Therefore, current and future activities aim to rewrite the narrative of Mileto out of the provincial dimension in which it is confined in order to enter fully among the “great” national museums. This is already happening with the valuable cooperation of the Museum’s entire staff. In my vision, the Museum is not only the place of silent memories, but a place of active memories capable in turn of generating culture in the contemporary, in the constant cross-reference between ancient and modern.
Can you tell us about the latest excavation and the new findings?
The latest excavation carried out in the late spring of this year in the area of Ancient Miletus, by the Superintendence (Dr. M. Mazza) and the University of Siena (Prof. C. Citter), brought to light for the first time in the history of Miletan research part of a private dwelling, built close to the cathedral on the Castle Hill. Some rooms near the entrance characterized by an imposing granite portal also partially exhibited in the museum together with some artifacts (ceramic, glass, metal), among which the pipes of a portable organ stand out, were brought to light, thus presenting an insight into the last moments of life in the city hit by the last terrible “scourge” of 1783. I wanted to include this “archaeological novelty” in the museum itinerary so that the close relationship between museum and territory would be clear, welding them together because one cannot exist without the other.
What are the artifacts found and placed on the lower floor of the museum? Which is a space already strongly characterized by the preciousness of some capitals and ancient columns and fragments.
As is well known, the Miletus Museum exhibits different types of materials, which, however, does not represent the entire holdings, some of which are still kept in storage and will have to have proper display treatment, such as materials from the pre-protohistoric, Greek and Roman periods. And this is the singular exception of the Miletese museum, which in the panorama of national ministerial museums in Calabria is the only one characterized by different collections, from archaeological to historical-artistic and, again, to sacred art. Singularity sanctioned by an agreement between the State, the Curia and the Municipality of Mileto. At the moment on the ground floor various architectural artifacts belonging to different historical periods are on display, covering a fairly wide period from the Roman era to the 1700s. Of particular interest is the reuse of architectural elements from the Roman period, sometimes of large dimensions, reused in the Norman period, and significant artifacts from the Byzantine and Norman periods, along with a core of materials dated between 1400 and 1600. Special products are also displayed on the upper floor such as the beautiful 14th-century works of the so-called Master of Miletus, the splendid 17th-century crucifix by Alessandro Algardi, and the remarkable collection of silverware and sacred vestments. The new arrangement, however, is to be considered temporary pending the start, before the winter, of the new refitting project, which will also involve an expansion of the space and exhibition sections.
What was the importance of the new exhibit design?
Every new exhibit design involves a series of both exhibition and technological upgrades. Methods and display techniques aimed at enhancing the characteristics of objects and their contexts, when present, are constantly evolving and, therefore, by their very nature changing. It is different for the museum technological infrastructure that instead presides over the various and changing exhibition needs. We expect, therefore, that the new layout can best respond, for the part of the technological infrastructure, to the changing needs for the presentation and enjoyment of the holdings.
What role can it play in better enhancing all the exhibits and the legacy they express?
It is well established that each new exhibit brings with it several new features first of all a different way of presenting what already exists within the museum spaces, sometimes to the point of making them look like objects that have never been seen. So it would already be quite a qualitative leap to make what has hitherto been undervalued appreciable. A different and well-reasoned display may already have the merit of suggesting a different and more engaging storytelling that in this case could represent stories never told before.
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