Rovine di CAMARINA

Camarina was founded as a Greek town at the behest of Syracuse; it suffered assaults

from both the Carthaginians and the Romans who finally destroyed it in 598 BC. Excavations have revealed the remains of a temple dedicated to Athena (incorporated in the masonry of the 19C building which now houses the museum), sections of plateia B, the market-place and stoà – the portico over the covered market, and a residential quarter dating from Hellenistic times (marked by the fence on the other side of the road).

Museo Archeologico Regionale di Camarina – In the first room are the most recent finds recovered as a result of ongoing work; these are gradually replaced and transferred to the permanent collection. The layout is therefore subject to reorganisation. The sea off Camarina has proved to conceal a wealth of treasures lost in numerous wrecks: a wonderful Corinthian bronze helmet (6C-5C BC), an Attic-Etruscan helmet (4C BC), an elegant bronze and enamel perfume container

(2C AD), and a hoard of more than 1,000 bronze coins (AD 275). There is also an unusual set of lead weights recovered from the sea bed from the area below the market-place. The museum possesses a vast collection of Corinthian (older and therefore more crudely made) and Attic amphorae. The Etruscan and Punic amphorae are different, being more elongated. The section devoted to the Archaic period contains a fine aryballos (a small bucket-like vessel used for drawing water from a well) decorated with two lions facing each other (T 2281) from the necropolis at Rifriscolaro.

Not far away, between Punta Secca and Casuzze, is the Parco Archeologico di Kaucana. There are two entrances to the archeologicai site: one along the coastal road, the other on the way from Punta Secca to Marina di Ragusa. It encloses the ruins of a residential area and a small Paleo-Christian church.