Reggio Calabria and the Riace Bronzes

National Archaeological Museum Of Magna Graecia, Holding The Two Fifth Century BC Riace Bronzes Recovered From The Sea In 1972 · Reggio Calabria, Calabria

Two Greek bronze statues of naked warriors, slightly over life size, cast in the fifth century BC and pulled out of the sea off the Calabrian coast by a snorkeller in 1972. Almost no large Greek bronzes survive anywhere, because they were melted down for centuries, and these two are the best preserved of the handful that do: eyelashes, teeth in silver and copper, lips and nipples inlaid, the veins raised on the backs of the hands. They stand in a climate-controlled room in the archaeological museum at Reggio Calabria, entered through an airlock a few visitors at a time, on anti-seismic plinths. The rest of the museum is the best collection of Magna Graecia material anywhere and is nearly empty. The city outside is a rebuilt post-earthquake grid with one great asset: a seafront promenade looking straight across the strait at Sicily and Etna, which a writer once called the most beautiful kilometre in Italy.

Piazza Giuseppe De Nava 26, Reggio Calabria, Calabria, 89123, Italy

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The structure: a state museum opening Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays, from mid-morning to early evening with a last admission an hour before closing, and closed on 1 January and 25 December. The bronzes' room operates a CONTROLLED AIRLOCK with metered entry throughout opening hours. The state free first Sunday applies. The Lungomare, the castle grounds and the streets never close. Ferries to Messina run frequently through the day. Confirm before travelling.

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