Reggio Calabria - Museo Archeologico Nazionale Di Reggio Calabria

Reggio Calabria is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated population of nearly 200,000. Reggio is the oldest city in the region, and during ancient times, it was an important and flourishing colony of Magna Graecia. It is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. Today Reggio has a modern urban system, set up after the catastrophic earthquake of 1908, which destroyed most of the city. The seismicity is caused by Reggio being on the Eurasian Plate near the faultline where it meets the African Plate that runs through the strait, dividing the two European regions of Calabria and Sicily into two different tectonic regions.

Reggio, located opposite Messina, always had strategic importance. Invasions by the Vandals, the Lombards, and the Goths occurred in the 5th–6th centuries. Then, under Byzantine rule, it became a metropolis of Byzantine possessions in Italy. Until the 15th century, Reggio was one of the most important Greek-rite Bishoprics in Italy. The Arabs occupied Reggio in 918. For brief periods in the 10th–11th centuries, the city was ruled by the Arabs and it became part of the Emirate of Sicily. In 1005, a Christian fleet coming from Pisa sacked the city and massacred all the Saracens to the great jubilation of the local population. In 1060 the Normans, under Robert Guiscard and Roger I of Sicily, captured Reggio. In 1194 Reggio and the whole of southern Italy went to the Hohenstaufen, who held it until 1266. In 1234 the town fair was established by decree of King Frederick II.

The Palazzo Piacentini houses the fantastic "Museo Archeologico Nazionale Di Reggio Calabria" aka "Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia".

The two most famous inhabitants of the museum are the "Riace Bronzes" aka "Riace Warriors".

These are two full-size Greek bronzes of naked bearded warriors, cast about 460–450 BC that were found in the sea in 1972 near Riace. Although the bronzes were rediscovered in 1972, they did not emerge from conservation until 1981. Considered one of the symbols of Calabria, the bronzes were commemorated even by a pair of Italian postage stamps. Both sculptures were made using the lost wax casting technique.

There is still debate on who found the statues. Either Roman Stefano Mariottini chanced upon the bronzes while snorkeling some 200 meters from the coast of Riace. Or they were found by four young teenagers from Riacef. Having found the statues underwater, they went to the government finances office and declared their find.

At the time the sculptures were made much of Calabria was part of Magna Graecia.

The Riace bronzes are surviving examples of ancient Greek sculpture. Their musculature is clear, yet not incised, and looks soft enough to be visible and realistic. The bronzes' turned heads add life to the figures. Their lips and nipples are made of copper. At one time, they held spears and shields, but those have not been found.