We still remain in Messina for the second episode of our journey on the archaeological treasures of the city and its province managed by the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage. And we take care of the “Badiazza”, the church of S. Maria di Mili and “Castellaccio”, for the construction sites managed by the archaeologists Maria Ravesi and Giusi Zavettieri.
At the S. Maria della Valle church, commonly called “Badiazza”, after having carried out five exploratory tests, excavations were carried out in the external area, to the north, to bring to light the staircase leading to the portal. Although part of the area was compromised by interventions carried out in the 20th century, during the investigations the entire load-bearing structure of the staircase was brought to light. The structures brought to light, some of which are unpublished, offer ideas for a new reading of the monument and the arrangement of the external space to the north of the church, characterized by the presence of the staircase, the niche/well and the retaining wall, as well as the connection between the access door to the underground rooms and the main portal.
From May to August of this year, a series of archaeological investigations were carried out at the church of S. Maria di Mili. The excavation conducted below the floor levels made it possible to document – explain the archaeologists – the presence of levels and structures dating from the Norman age to the eighteenth century. Floor strips and wall structures relating to the foundations of the wall of the façade of the Norman church, fragments (parts, ed.) of the sixteenth-century floor and eighteenth-century hypogeal structures (cavities entirely built below ground level, ed.) were brought to light. Outside, near the apse, some tombs were found, probably from the late medieval period. In Castellaccio other important discoveries. Continues…
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