Messapian Walls of Castro

City / RuinsEuropeItalyc. 350 BCEMessapian

Stretches of the massive mid-4th-century BC Messapian circuit in large dry-laid limestone blocks survive beneath Castro's historic centre, alongside an intramural sanctuary of Athena with a Hellenistic Doric temple and a colossal limestone cult statue restored in 2023. Whether this is Virgil's Castrum Minervae — the landing place of Aeneas — is an ongoing scholarly debate.

40.0070°, 18.4257°