The Ιtinerary of Μyths and Ηeroes

The Itinerary of myths and heroes is a journey that will guide the traveler or reader through the archaeological areas of Puglia, along the Appian Way and its deviationes, between mythological tale and history, following the historical writings of famous authors from the past such as Orazio as well as prestigious contemporary writers like Paolo Rumiz; these travellers have crossed and described this Way. The main stops will be Canosa, Ruvo, Bari, Egnazia, Gravina, Altamura and finally Taranto, one of the most important centres of Magna Graecia, which boasts one of the most beautiful archaeological museums in the world: Marta. Following this itinerary, the traveler will finally be invited to cross the Adriatic to reach the Ionian Islands, which enjoy a unique position in the mythical and epic Western imaginary. The Homeric poems, which are set in this fascinating and fantastic insular world, have over time led people to overlap the literary image of the island of the Phaeacians with the real image of Corfu, and to consider Ithaca as the home of the most famous traveler of all times: Ulysses. Entire generations have been fascinated by a journey that perhaps never took place; although the historical-archaeological evidences are very few and do not allow for a sure identification of the Ionian Islands as the actual theatre of the peregrinations described in the Odyssey, «il turista che, appressandosi per mare alla Grecia, oggi vede da lontano Itaca – as Umberto Eco notes – prova un’emozione omerica». The travellers who are interested in following this itinerary will be invited to go in search of those Homeric emotions by following these islands with the Odyssey in their hands and guided by an educated eighteenth-century writer and traveler, Saverio Scrofani, who has left us intense descriptions of these places, full with mythological and classical suggestions in his book Viaggio in Grecia.