Archaeological Excavations at the National Library

The story

When the Ministry bought the former Archbishop's Seminary in Cosenza to turn it into the National Library, which opened in 1985, the ancient city lay beneath the building. The excavations of 1988 and 1990, directed by Adolfo Tosti and Antonio Sangineto, uncovered houses in use from the mid-4th century BC to the 2nd century AD and a large Hellenistic building with a corridor and a portico carried on wooden columns. Strabo calls Cosenza the "metropolis of the Bruttii", and here you can see a piece of it.

Among the remains is a Hellenistic house, from the late 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, which stayed in use until its tiled roof collapsed in the 2nd century AD. The archaeologists also point to signs of a traumatic event, most probably an earthquake. In another room the rubble of a wall covered the skeleton of an adult ox, killed by the collapse, with butchery marks. Among the finds is a rare ceramic inkwell of the so-called "Campana" type, 2nd century BC.

What to look for

The archaeological path is on the library's ground floor and is visited with library staff (see hours and visits). Just outside, the Cathedral and the Diocesan Museum are a few steps away.