Mesagne’s museum is one of the oldest in Puglia: established in 1935 following the “Granafei” donation, which was part of the Granafei family’s archaeological collection, the Civic Museum has experienced an increase in acquisitions, as a result of donations and unsystematic excavations, and various exhibiting spaces.

The current site of the museum, based in the Castello Comunale (Municipal Castle) since 1999, is located in an area rich with archaeological artefacts which, in addition to enhancing the collection, allows visitors to explore the ancient fort, starting with the fortified tower from the 15^th century, and to appreciate the changes to the defensive works relating to the noble residence (from the 17^th century).

Since 2006, organicity and scientific rigour have been applied to the development of the collections and they witnessed an additional progression in 2015 with the proposal of a tour of exhibits arranged on the two floors of the castle. For several years the Museum, endowed with service space (closets, bookshop, ticket/welcome office), has provided guided tours and educational activities that also include visits to the depositories and restoration workshops. For the current set-up and organisation of the museum, the Museum Management has been able to avail itself of the essential contribution of the Ministry of Culture via activities relating to guardianship, investigations and scientific study conducted by the Soprintendenza Archeologica della Puglia (Puglian Archaeological Authority) and the contribution of researchers from the University of Salento and the Free University of Amsterdam. The Museum boasts an important patrimony which includes various types of artefacts (ceramics, coins, inscriptions etc.) relating to a period of time between the Iron Age and the late Middle Ages.

The museum tour currently consists of two sections. On the ground floor there are items on display that were recovered from archaeological research conducted in the city, illustrating the indigenous centre of Messapian Mesagne and in particular, the urban necropolises and the monumental aristocratic tombs attributed to the height of the Roman period. On the first floor, artefacts are exhibited from archaeological sites in the region of Mesagne relating to the Prehistoric Age through to the late Roman Empire and in particular, the indigenous centres of Muro Maurizio, Muro Tenente and the thermal baths at Malvindi. There are also exhibits from the “Ugo Granafei” donation, amongst which there is the small toy horse (which has become the symbol of the museum), a reconstruction of the history of the Institute and its activities relating to guardianship documented since the beginning of the previous century.

Amongst the exhibits, one of the most significant is the monumental tomb, with its unique contents, discovered in 1988 by the Soprintendenza Archeologica in the residential area of Mesagne and entirely reconstructed in a ground floor room of the Museum. In addition to its dimensions, worthy of note are the decorations painted along the walls and the lavish grave goods composed of 33 objects relating to a period of time between the end of the IV century and the first twenty-five years of the II century BC. The rooms of the Museum also have a tactile tour for blind and partially sighted people which allows visitors to ‘touch’ the reproductions of some of the more significant artefacts and to listen to the audio descriptions.