For a long time, Vereto was more of a promise than an archaeological certainty. The name of the ancient city appeared in historical sources, local memory and studies on the Messapians, but the hill remained largely unexplored. For a long time, scholars’ attention focused mainly on the Centopietre and the complex of San Giovanni Battista, monuments that gave rise to various and often conflicting interpretations, whilst the Messapian settlement was known primarily through occasional finds, scattered artefacts and limited investigations.

A key milestone in the modern history of research was represented by the studies of Cosimo Pagliara who, between the late 1960s and the 1970s, collected and published fundamental data on inscriptions, coins, amphora stamps and epigraphic evidence connected with Veretum and the Centopietre. His work helped to situate Vereto within a broader network of relationships between the settlement, the necropolis, the road system and the landing places, in particular that of San Gregorio. In those same years, the 1978 volume Leuca, featuring a contribution by Francesco D’Andria on archaeological exploration, offered a more comprehensive picture of the archaeology of Capo di Leuca, placing Vereto within its historical and territorial context.

In the years that followed, the debate remained lively, thanks in part to scholars and enthusiasts of the area. Among them, Cesare Daquino, a teacher originally from Morciano di Leuca, played a special role; in 1991, he published I Messapi e Vereto. His book was not merely a synthesis of the available knowledge: it was also an act of love for a land perceived as both rich and fragile, marked by chance discoveries, interrupted research, clandestine looting and building developments. Daquino was able to tap into the renewed interest in Messapia that had developed in those years and transform it into a narrative capable of speaking to non-specialists as well.

A methodological breakthrough came with the topographical surveys coordinated by Mariangela Sammarco, which began in the late 1990s as part of a collaboration between the Municipality of Patù, the University of Salento and the Superintendency. The archaeological map of the Vereto area, compiled through surveys, bibliographic and archival research, photo interpretation and the systematic mapping of evidence, has made it possible to view the site not as an isolated point, but as a complex landscape: settlements, walls, necropolises, roads, suburban areas and landing places. The surveys have also helped to reconstruct, at least in part, the course of the square-stone city walls and to recognise the long duration of the hill’s occupation, from protohistory to the medieval period.

Meanwhile, excavations, recovery work and archaeological monitoring have added important pieces to the puzzle: investigations at San Giovanni Battista and Centopietre, research in the Campo Re area, test pits along Via Uschia Pagliare, investigations at Madonna di Vereto, and surveys and interventions in the San Gregorio area. The picture remains fragmentary, but it is precisely this fragmentary nature that demonstrates just how great the site’s potential still is. As the most recent summaries note, archaeological research in the Patù area has long been sporadic; nevertheless, surface surveys, topographical documentation and work carried out over the last few decades have created a solid foundation for a new phase of study.

Today, DiscoVereto and the Leucantica project are building on this legacy and seeking to transform it into systematic research. The excavation of ancient Vereto, the study of both known and unpublished materials, the use of digital technologies, collaboration with local institutions and communities, and a focus on public communication all aim to move beyond the long era of fragmentary knowledge. The hill that Daquino still saw as shrouded in mystery thus becomes an open laboratory: a place where the past of the Messapians, the landscape of Capo di Leuca and the memory of contemporary communities can finally engage in dialogue once more.

Essential Bibliography

C. Pagliara, Fonti per la storia di Veretum: iscrizioni, monete, timbri anforari, Annali dell’Università di Lecce. Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, V, 1969-1971, pp. 121-136.

C. Pagliara, Fonti epigrafiche per la storia di Veretum e della Centopietre di Patù, Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia, s. III, VI, 2, 1976, pp. 441-451.

F. D’Andria, L’esplorazione archeologica, in Leuca, Galatina 1978, pp. 47-90.

R. Auriemma, L’approdo di Torre S. Gregorio, Studi di Antichità, XI, 1998, pp. 127-148.

C. Daquino, I Messapi e Vereto, Cavallino 1991.

E. Lippolis, P. Violante, Saggi di scavo nelle chiese di S. Pietro di Giuliano del Capo e S. Giovanni di Patù, Taras. Rivista di Archeologia, X, 1990, pp. 157-206.

M. Sammarco, San Gregorio, Bibliografia Topografica della Colonizzazione Greca in Italia e nelle Isole Tirreniche, XVIII, 2010, pp. 34-36.

M. Sammarco, Ricerche di topografia antica a Vereto, in R. D’Andria, K. Mannino, a cura di, Gli allievi raccontano. Atti dell’Incontro di Studio per i Trent’anni della Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici dell’Università del Salento, Galatina 2012, pp. 21-30.

M. Sammarco, Vereto, Bibliografia Topografica della Colonizzazione Greca in Italia e nelle Isole Tirreniche, XXI, 2012, pp. 817-825.

F. Congedo, V. Desantis, a cura di, Archeologia a Patù. Ricerche e scavi 1973-2005. Taccuini veretini, Monteroni di Lecce 2019.