Tusa, in the province of Messina, still retains the appearance of a typical medieval city with a classic layout made up of alleys and evocative sacred buildings.
The current village was built in the XNUMXth century. on the ruins ofancient Halaesa Arconidea.
The territory of the town has been the subject of important developments for decades Archaeological excavations which, recently, have brought to light the access wall of a theater from third century BC.
The origins of Halaesa Arconidea
La foundation of Halaesa it is mentioned in the Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian who lived between 90 and 27 BC. In his work, Diodorus recalls two hypotheses. According to the first of them, the foundation of Halaesa should be attributed to the Carthaginians; the other hypothesis, the best known and still followed today, traces the birth of the settlement to a Sicilian king, Arconides of Herbita around 403/402 BC
Further information on Halaesa dates back to two hundred years later when, during the First Punic War (264-241 BC), the city allied itself with the Romans to fight the Carthaginians. In that period Halaesa took on strategic importance: its port, in fact, was used to supply Rome with grain from the internal areas of the island.
The monumentalisation of the city dates back to that era of splendor, as evidenced by the ,, residential neighborhood south of the forum and the development of the northern hill, named Temple of Apollo for the identification of the remains of a real three-temple sanctuary.
The history of archaeological excavations in Tusa
Il archaeological site of Halaesa It therefore boasts a history of approximately thirteen centuries. Based on the rare information provided by the sources, as well as on the visible remains exhumed from agricultural work, Luigi Bernabò Brea and Gianfilippo Carettoni opened the first excavations there in the 50s, concentrated on the agora sector.
These works made it possible to recognize the so-called Temple of Apollo on the northern acropolis, and to free a wall of buttresses on the northern part of the eastern slope of the hill. The excavations of the agora were resumed in the 70s by Giacomo Scibona and in the 2000s with the collaboration of Gabriella Tigano.
Angelo Tudisca, then mayor of Tusa, in 2016, decided to expand the excavation program, convinced that the archaeological treasures would restore the local economy in terms of tourism.
Tudisca commissioned scholars from all over the world, not just Italians, to carry out the excavations.
In fact, the team from the University of Palermo which is excavating the city walls, an Italian-British team (University of Messina and Oxford) which is excavating in the area known as the Temple of Apollo, and a French team are currently working on the construction site. which deals with the southern acropolis, the southern part of the agora and the theater.
The site recently acquired the status of archaeological park: this recognition allows you to acquire greater autonomy, particularly in terms of management and financing of excavations.
The discovery of the Halaesa Theater
In 2016 Michela Costanzi, who heads the French team at the University of Amiens, noticed a series of clues that seemed to indicate the existence of a theater in Halaesa: the semicircular shape of the land, its view of the sea, its exposure to the shade were all clues not to be underestimated.
In 2017, to understand if this semicircular shape was actually man-made, a microtopographic survey was carried out which showed that the slope was too regular to be natural.
In 2018 the long-awaited confirmation
The Superintendency of Messina initially did not authorize the archaeologists to operate with the aid of a mechanical shovel. We therefore began to dig by hand. Three steps carved into the natural rock, a flat and sculpted rock formation which was thought to be the site of the orchestra, and a canalisation were soon found.
The ancients Greek theatres in fact, they were equipped with systems for the recovery of rainwater.
Informed of the discoveries, the Superintendence of Messina authorized the use of the mechanical shovel and the excavations then expanded. One was dug trince, 50 m long and 5 m deep, which allowed us to clearly define the topographic profile of the slope and to discover rows of stone benches and seats with recessed areas to rest your feet.
The discovery of stone seats, steps and a paved floor between the orchestra and the stage undeniably confirmed the presence of a large theatre, buried under almost 12.000 cubic meters of earth.
The discovery of the wall
In 2020 the excavations were interrupted due to the health emergency caused by the pandemic. In 2021 they resumed and concentrated in the theater area and, above all, at the level of a door that opens into the city bastion, below the southern corner of the building.
Above the theater itself, it was discovered that the large wall of buttresses discovered in the 50s extended northwards, surrounding virtually the entire theatre. In the area of the southern corner, it was also verified that the wall of parodos it is preserved for at least 2,80 m in height.
Parodos means side passage and was basically the passage between the seats and the stage.
The future of the Tusa excavations
The excavations of the site of ancient Halaesa will continue and will certainly hold other extraordinary surprises for us. The Sicily Region is interested in completely freeing the theater and, to this end, has renewed the agreement with the University of Amiens for another three years.
In the area south of the agora, the structures that make up the residential neighborhood will continue to be reclaimed and a cistern that served as a landfill will be made safe. The excavation campaign of the central building will resume on the southern acropolis.
All these works are important not only for the scientific knowledge of the site, but also because they generate a local economy which supports Angelo Tudisca's initial project. The archaeological missions alone produce considerable economic vitality and the discoveries attract more and more tourists to this lesser-known part of Sicily.
The excavation of the theater will lead to the recruitment of archaeologists and local workers, and will certainly make Halaesa one of the major archaeological sites in all of Sicily.
