The Tavole Palatine of Metaponto: a Greek temple standing alone in the Lucanian countryside

You arrive almost by chance, turning off the main road amid stretches of wheat and olive trees. And suddenly, in the middle of nowhere in the Lucanian countryside, there they are: fifteen Doric columns that have held themselves upright for around two thousand five hundred years. They are the Tavole Palatine, what remains of a Greek temple from the 6th century BC, and the first thing that strikes you is exactly this: the absence of everything else. No village around, no crowds, only the wind and the cicadas.

The temple

The temple stood a few kilometres from ancient Metapontion, a Greek colony overlooking the Ionian, near the right bank of the river Bradano. Originally the columns were thirty-two, arranged in a peristasis of twelve on the long sides and six on the short ones; today fifteen remain, ten on the north front and five on the south. For centuries the inhabitants called them the Columns or Mensole Palatine, linking them to the legend of the Paladins of France, who were said to have gathered there before setting off against the Saracens.

The rediscovered history

The popular name endures, but the excavations have told a different story. A ceramic fragment bearing a votive dedication, found during the research of 1926, made it possible to recognise in the sanctuary a place linked to the cult of Hera. Since then the archaeological campaigns have continued, up to the recent excavations carried out in recent years, a sign that the site still has something to say.

The visit

The beauty of it is that here there is nothing to book and nothing to pay: entry to the area is free, and you visit at your leisure, walking around the colonnade as the light shifts. Not far away, the National Archaeological Museum of Metaponto keeps the finds of the territory and helps you imagine the city that once was. But standing before the columns, it takes little to grasp the power of the place.

When to go

Come early in the morning or in the late afternoon, when the raking sun sets the stone ablaze and the fields seem painted. Avoid the motionless heat of July and August: spring and early autumn offer finer colours and almost total silence. A monument of Magna Graecia all to yourself, far from the queues of Paestum.

Getting there

The temple is very easily reached by car along the SS106 Jonica, which has a dedicated Tavole Palatine exit with ample parking, on the Metaponto plain between Taranto and the Lucanian coast. The nearest railway station is Metaponto, a few kilometres away. The reference airport is Bari.