Trebisacce overlooks the Gulf of Taranto and is located along the coastal strip that faces the plain of Sibari. The inhabited center develops between the sea and the hills behind it, in a territory that preserves significant traces of the most ancient phases of the history of southern Italy.
On a high ground located between the Saraceno torrent and the inhabited area of Trebisacce lies the Archaeological Park of Broglio, one of the most important protohistoric sites in Calabria. The area of Broglio was inhabited for about a thousand years by communities belonging to the civilization of the Oenotrians, an indigenous population present in southern Italy before the arrival of the Greek colonists. The strategic position of the site, on a natural relief with wide visual control over the coast and the plain below, favored its development as a stable and organized settlement.
The archaeological excavations, started in the 1970s, have brought to light remains of dwellings, settlement structures, and numerous artifacts that allow for the reconstruction of aspects of daily life, economy, and cultural relations of these communities. Among the materials unearthed are ceramics and objects that attest to contacts with the Mycenaean area as early as the 2nd millennium BC, witnessing exchanges and connections between local populations and the Aegean world.
The site of Broglio therefore documents a phase prior to the Greek colonization of nearby Sibari, offering a precious picture of the cultural and commercial dynamics that affected Ionian Calabria in the protohistoric era. The presence of housing structures and of artifacts imported or inspired by external models confirms the existence of networks of relations and of a society capable of interacting with wider Mediterranean contexts.
Today, the archaeological park represents a place of study and valorization of the historical heritage of the territory. Through the preserved evidence and the research activities conducted over time, Broglio contributes significantly to the knowledge of the most ancient origins of the Calabrian Ionian area, restoring to Trebisacce a central role in the reconstruction of regional protohistory.
